COLLECTIOlSrS 



MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 



SECOTsTD SERIES. 



DOCUMENTARY 



HISTOJIY OF THE STATE OF MAINE. 



EDITED BY 

WILLIAM WILLIS. 



VOL. I. 



CONTAINING A 



HISTORY OF THE DISCOVERY OF MAINE. 



BY 

J. G. KOHL. 



WITH AN APPENDIX 



ON THE VOYAGES OF THE CABOTS, 

By M. D'AVEZAC, of Paris. 



PUBLISHED BY THE MAINE HISTOKICAL SOCIETY, AIDED BY 
APPROPRIATIONS FROM THE STATE. 



PORTLAND: 

18G9. 









^- 



V^' 




1944 



Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1869, by the 

Maine Historical Society, 

in the District Court of the United States for the District of Maine. 



B. THURSTON AND CO., I'UINTKUS, PORTLAND. 



EDITOR'S PREFACE 



In offering this first volume of a new series of its publica- 
tions, the Maine Historical Society believes it will confer a high 
gratification, not only upon historical students in our own State, 
but on all who take an interest in the early annals of our coun- 
try residing within the limits of the charter granted by James I. 
in 1606, to the Council of Plymouth. 

The Society, having long had the impression that the archives 
of the chief commercial nations of Europe contained rich mate- 
rials relating to the discovery of these shores, and of the early 
attempts to colonize them, were anxious to explore those store- 
1^ houses of hidden treasures. For this purpose they appealed 
^vv. to the State, and, in 1863, obtained a pecuniary grant to enable 

-^ them to make a preliminary investigation. Sufticieut encour- 

Q^ agement was given by this appropriation, to induce the govern- 

ment to enlarge its bounty; and, in 1867, the Governor and 
Council were authorized to contract Avith the Society for the 
.^ publication, annually, of a volume " containing the earliest doc- 
uments, charters, and other State paj^ers illustrating the history 
^ of Maine." 

*f Stimulated by this liberal benefaction, the Society availed 

iq itself of the opportunity of a visit to Europe by the Rev. 

- Leonard Woods, d. d., ll. d., late President of Bowdoin College, 

2s to obtain his aid in the necessary examinations. This accom- 

plished scholar, being accredited by the highest recommendation 
in the country, and aided by his learning and personal address, 
•"^ had access to various public and private collections of rare and 

^ valuable documents, and an introduction to scholars of similar 



11 PREFACE. 

taste, availed liimself of those advantages to promote the objects 
of his inquiry. 

,He explored the archives of the British^ State-paper offices, 
\inder the guidance of jMr. W. Noel Sainsbury, the familiar 
spirit of those obscure regions, through whom he obtained tran- 
scripts of valuable documents relating to our early history. He 
also visited the British Museum, and especially the map depart- 
ment, rich M'ith early and authentic maps, and conducted by its 
head, the learned R. H. Major, f. s. a., etc., whose historical and 
geographical works have placed him among the first — primus 
inter 2ycires — in those pursuits, gained access to that unrivalled 
collection. He also conferred with M. D'Avezac, the leanied 
archa3ologist at Paris, from whom he obtained interesting infor- 
mation pertinent to his object, and has since received from him 
a valuable communication which is placed in our A2:)pendix. 
lie then proceeded to Germany, where, in Bremen, he made the 
acquaintance of Dr. J. G. Kohl, whose reputation as a traveler, 
author, and cartographer, was eminent in this country, as well 
as in Euroi)e. In him he found a congenial spirit, and a ready 
and hearty sympathy in the objects of his pursuit. It was not 
long, therefore, before he came to terms with Dr. Kohl, to give 
to our Society and State the benefit of his great learning and 
practical experience, in the accomplishment of our purposes. 

Dr. Kohl was born in Bremen in 1808, and educated to the 
law at Gottingen, Heidelberg, and Munich. Several years after 
this, he was occupied as a private tutor in Courland and travel- 
ing in Russia. On his return, in 1838, he settled in Dresden, 
from which place he made excursions in all directions, visiting 
every important district of Europe, and published the observa- 
tions and experience derived from his various expeditions, in a 
series of volumes. In 1854, he came to America, where he 
traveled four years, during which time he prepared for the gov- 
ernment of the United States, a series of valuable maps relating 
to America. Since his return, he has been engaged upon a 
minute geographical survey and history of this continent. His 



PREFACE. m 

life has been filled with useful literary labor, and a j^ortion of its 
fruit has been given to the world in nearly twenty distinct 
publications. Among these are "Travels in Canada," 1855; 
"Travels in the United States," 1857 ; "Kitahi Gama, or Tales 
from Lake Superior," 18G0. Another interesting and impor- 
tant work, published by him in 1861, after a severe course of 
study and jsreparation, is entitled " History of, and commentary 
on, the two oldest charts of the new world, made in Spain on the 
command of the emperor Charles V." 

To secure the services of a man so distinguished, and so 
peculiarly qualified for the task by long experience in similar 
studies, was at once honorable to Dr. Woods, and most accepta- 
ble and valuable to our Society and community. The result of 
his labors, so promptly and amply furnished, are j^resented to 
the public in the volume before us. And I may venture to say, 
that the amount of authentic information here brought together 
on the discovery and eax-ly voyages to America, so fully and 
clearly illustrated by facsimile copies of the earliest maps 
known to exist, has never been collected in so brief and limited 
a space. The maps, twenty-three in number, the latest of which 
is Mercator's of 1569, with the learned explications of them, 
reduced and lithographed in Bremen under the superintend- 
ence of Dr. Kohl, throw fresh light, not only upon the voyages 
and discoveries with which they are connected, but upon the 
condition of science and art in those departments of knowledge 
during that period. The value of the work is greatly enhanced 
by these illustrations. 

The maps, of course, give an imperfect and inaccurate view of 
our coast, from the desultory and cursory manner in which the 
visits were made to it ; but they furnish a general outline of the 
north-eastern shores; in most of them are represented the promi- 
nent points of Cape Cod, Penobscot Bay, the numerous islands 
along the coast of Maine, Cape Sable, and Cape Ilace, points 
which could not fail to arrest the attention of even a common 
observer. The ancient Normnhecja^ embracing sometimes the 



iv PREFACE. 

Avholo of New England, has a conspicuous place on nearly all 
the early maps, and retained its name far into the next centuiy, 
but over a narrower region. 

Perhaps we ought not to be surj)rised at the imperfection of 
these maps, or of the narratives of those' early discoveries, when 
we consider the ignorance which still prevails in Europe on the 
geography of America. A French author recently did Port- 
land the honor to make it the capital of New England, and 
conspicuous points in the south and west of our country are 
often so transposed in the writings of some of their literary 
men, that we know not where to find them. It is a familiar 
fact, that before the Revolution, the name of Boston was often 
used for the whole of New England. But it is singular that 
the extraordinary discoveries and transactions of the sixteenth 
century, so much at variance with the routine occurrences of 
European societies, should not have been transmitted by con- 
temporaneous writers with more fullness and accuracy than we 
have received them. Even Eden and Hakluyt, who may be 
called partisans in American discovery, fail to give us accu- 
rate representations of those wonderful and peculiar enterprises, 
which Ave should suppose must have made a deep impression 
upon the public mind. Humboldt says, "the extraordinary ap- 
pearances of nature, and the intercourse Avith men of diiferent 
races must have exercised an influence on the j)rogress of knoAvl- 
edge in Europe. The germ of a great number of physical truths 
is found in the Avorks of the sixteenth century." 

But other events nearer home, and of more absorbing inter- 
est, cast a shadow over those remote, desultory, and excep- 
tional transactions. Lord Bacon, in his " Reign of Henry VII," 
affords but tAVO duodecimo pages to the Cabots, Avhose enter- 
prises Ave are accustomed to regard as among the most impor- 
tant of that reign, and Avere indeed so, in their influence upon 
the future course of history ; and in those few Avords, he entirely 
ignores John Cabot and liis first voyage. We place this passage 
in the Appendix. And Speed, in his " History of Great Brit- 



PREFACE. V 

aine," published in London in 1611, takes no notice of those 
events except in these words, " and though some other actions, 
as Sebastian Cabot's discovery," he thought best " to postpone," 
that he might " couch all that concerns Perkin Warbeck here 
together;" so that we have no more of the Cabots, or. of any- 
other foreign undertakings to our coasts, in either of those 
works. 

The editor of Bacon's Henry VII, therefore, in liis preface 
justly says, "The original records of the time had not been 
studied by any man with a genius for writing history, nor gath- 
ered into a book by any laborious collector. The published 
histories were full of inaccuracies and omissions, which it is 
impossible to correct or supply, without laborious research in 
public archives and private collections " 

In the present work, it gives us pleasure to feel, that Dr. 
Kohl has given, in a most compact and interesting form, the 
results of a careful and laborious research into the scattered 
original sources of information, relating to the eventful, but 
obscure j^eriod of which it treats, illuminating it by a compre- 
hensive, profound, and impressive resume of its record. We 
cannot but symjiathize with him in his repeated lamentations 
over the loss of reports and charts of voyages, the neglect of 
the adventurers to indicate the course and progress of their 
discoveries, and of cosmograjjhers to delineate them. These 
neglects and omissions will be particularly noticed in his analy- 
sis — dissection we may rather call it — of the maps introduced. 
The most elaborate and acute of these discussions is upon the 
celebrated map of 1544, unjustly, as he thinks, ascribed to Se- 
bastian Cabot, and on the Cabot voyages, of which there have 
always existed contradictory opinions. 

Dr. Kohl may, 2)erhaps, be thought by some to have traveled 
beyond the primary object of the work, by introducing the 
movements of the Spanish and French in Florida. But he 
thought it not only useful, but necessary to the unity and fulness 
of the task he had undertaken, to bring these voyages within his 



VI PREFACE. 

comprcliGnsivc review of tlic development of the northern and 
eastern section of the country in which Ave are more especially 
interested, and to which Thevet's account of Norumbega is an 
important appendage. In a private letter on the subject, he 
naively says, " You will jierhaps at first sight be astonished to 
find in my work, not only a re2)0rt on Cartier's voyages and 
explorations in Canada, but also one on the French settlements 
and discoveries in Florida. But by looking nearer into the sub- 
ject, I hope you will find that these matters also, are so inti- 
mately connected with the liistory of every part of the east 
coast of the United States, with that of Maine and New Eng- 
land, that it was impossible for me to leave them out. More- 
over, the gcogrctphical and hydrographical part of these voy- 
ages, in several modern works, has not been much cleared up. 
I hope you will find, that taking this into consideration, I have 
come to some new results." 

The volume now presented to the public derives additional 
value from the very interesting communication of M. D'Avezac 
of Paris, to Dr. Woods, and translated by him, which, with his 
explanatory letter, will be found in the Appendix. It is most 
gratifying to be able to place side by side the arguments of such 
distinguished champions in the field of historical inquiry. M. 
D'Avezac and Dr. Kohl both reason fi-oni opposite views of 
the same admitted transactions ; but Dr. Kohl is more full and 
minute in his examination of the still doubtful and disputed 
problem of the Cabot voyages and map. Both, wise and dili- 
gent seekers after truth, discuss the obscure and indistinct indi- 
cations of tlie imperfectly revealed events of the time, in a 
spirit of impartiality and ability, wdaich is exhaustive of the 
subject. It is a generous and honorable contest, which cannot 
fail to interest and instruct the historical student curious in 
such investigations. 

It was the original intention of the Society to limit its inqui- 
ries and researches iu foreign archives to the voyages and dis- 
coveries Avhich related particularly to our territory, and to the 



PREFACE. VU 

first eiforts to colonize and bring it forward into tlio line of set- 
tlement and civilization. But as the subject was investigated, 
it grew in importance, until we were carried back for an initial 
point, to the penumbra of our history, in the earliest known 
authentic records of American discovery. And we could not 
but think that a carefully prepared summary of the voyages of 
the Northmen to the Gulf of Maine, and the later voyages along 
its coast in the sixteenth century, would be an appropriate and 
interesting introduction to the history of its actual and perma- 
nent colonization. 

Our Society had been encouraged to undertake the task, 
whose results are partially contained in the present volume, by 
the successful example of other historical societies. Those of 
Georgia, Maryland, New York, Massachusetts, and others, aided 
by' their respective governments, had" pursued their investiga- 
tions into the musty archives of the State and colonial depart- 
ments of Great Britain, and had brought forth from them treas- 
ures of great value, long hidden, and unrevealed even to their 
possessors. Perhaps it is not too much to say that it was owing 
to the discovery of valuable documents revealed by the eager 
curiosity and persevering search of our American scholars, that 
a change was effected in the policy of the British government, 
by which these treasures, long neglected and carefully secluded 
from observation and use by. their jealous guardians, were at 
length thrown open, and the government itself, becoming aware 
of their importance, undertook to arrange, classify, and calen- 
dar them, and furnish jn-inted abstracts to the i^ublic. These 
valuable collections are thus made available to the cause of his- 
tory, and have largely contributed to rectify errors and to fur- 
nish new facts for the illustration of the early and obscure 
periods of our history. 

In the course of the researches undertaken for our Historical 
Society, Dr. Woods obtained i^ossession of an wipublished man- 
uscript of Richard Hakluyt, the ardent patron and recorder of 
American discovery ; in which, as early as 1584, he urged upon 



viil PREFACE. 

Queen Elizabeth with great earnestness and force, the prosecu- 
tion of colonization upon our coasts. This interesting and valu- 
able document, containing in the original draft sixty-two and a 
half large folio pages, will form part of a second volume of our 
Documentary History, to be published in the course of the 
present year. 

It is Avith no unworthy i^ride that the Maine Historical Soci- 
ety now presents to the public this, their first documentary vol- 
ume, richly freighted with rare and authentic materials, as a 
valuable contribution to American history. 

I cannot close these introductory remarks without tendei'ing 
my grateful acknowledgments to the Rev. Edward Ballard, d. d., 
Secretary of the Maine Historical Society, for his very valuable 
aid in jireparing this volume for the press. His wide historical 
researches, and critical judgment, have, supplemented my maliy 
deficiencies. The Index., carefully prepared and arranged by 
him, gives additional value to the volume, and will be cordially 
welcomed by historical students. 

WILLIAM WILLIS. 



A HISTORY 

OF THE 

DISCOVEM OF THE EAST COAST OF NORTH AMERICA, 

PAKTICULARLT THE COAST OF MAINE; 

FROM THE 

ISrORTHMlEN' I INT 990, 

TO THE 

CH-A-RTER OF G- I L B E R T IN" 15-78. 
BY J. G. KOHL, 

OP BREMEN, QEEMANT. 
ILLUSTRATED BT COPIES OF THE EARLIEST MAPS AND CHARTS. 



L'ensemble des faits, auquel 
nous donnons le nom d'histoire 
n'est qu' une portion — portion 
encore mutil^e et rompue— des 
annales du genre humain. 

Walckenaer. 



CONTENTS. 



PAGE 

Inteoduction, .17 

CHAPTER I. 

Physical Features op the Gulf and Coast of Maine. 

1. Introductory Remarks, 31 

2. General Configui'ation of the Continent of North America, . 32 

3. The four Great Gulfs of the East Coast of North America, . . 33 

4. Name of the Gulf between Cape Cod and Nova Scotia, . . 35 

5. Size and General Configuration of the Gulf of Maine, ... 36 

6. Soundings, 38 

7. The Fishing Banks and Shoals, 39 

8. Currents, 41 

9. Tides, 43 

10. Climate, Temjierature, Winds, Fogs, 44 

11. Deviation of the Magnetic Needle, 47 

12. Capes, Headlands, Peninsulas, Indentations, 47 

1. Cape Cod, 49 

2. Cape Ann, 50 

3. Cape Elizabeth, 50 

4. Cape Sable, 51 

13. Islands, 52 

14. Harbors, Baj's, and Inlets, 53 

15. Rivers ^ ... 54 



CHAPTER II. 

DiSCOVEKIES OF THE NORTHMEN IN NORTH-EASTERN AMER- 
ICA DURING THE MIDDLE AGES. 

1. Introductory Remarks, 57 

2. Discovery of Iceland and Greenland, 60 

3. First Discovery of New England by Biarne, 62 

1 



10 CONTENTS. 

•1. Voyages of Leif, Erik's Son, and First Settlement in " Vinland " 

(New England), ^^^ 

5. Voyages and Discoveries of Thorwald, Erik's Son, in " Vinland," . 66 

6. Unsnccessfnl Attempt of Tliorstein, Erik's Son, to reach " Vin- 

land " again, '^^ 

7. Voyage of Thorfinn Kartsefne to " Vinland," and a New Settle- 

ment efiected there by him, 70 

8. Expeditions from Greenland and Iceland to " Vinland," subse- 

qnent to those of Thorfinn Karlsefne, 82 

9. New England considered by the Northmen to he a part of Eu- 

rope, 85 

10. Eeminiscences and Traces of the Northmen among the Indians of 

New England 88 

11. Voyages of the Venetians, Zeui, in tlie northern parts of the At- 

lantic Ocean at the end of the Fourteenth Century, ... 92 
The Sea-chart of the Zeni, 97 

APPENDAGE TO CHAPTER 11. 

Chalets for the Northmen. 

1. Map, No. 2, of the North- Atlantic Ocean, drawn by the Icelander 

Signrdus Stephanius, in 1570, 107 

2. Maji, No. ;5, of the North-Atlantic Ocean, drawn by the Icelander 

Gudbrandus Torlacius, in 1(506, 109 



CHAPTER III. 

English Trading Expeditions from Bristol, and other 
English Ports, toward the North-west, principally to 
Iceland, during the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Centu- 
ries.— John OF KoLNO.— Columbus, Ill 



CHAPTER IV. 

Expeditions of John and Sebastian Cabot to North- 
eastern America, in the years 1497, 1498. 

1. Voyage of John and Sebastian Cabot in the year 1497, . . . 121 

2. Voyage of Sebastian Cabot in 1498, 135 

APPENDAGE TO CHAPTER IV. 

Charts for the Voycujes of the Cabots. 

1. Map, No. 4, of the Ocean and Islands between Western Europe 

and Eastern Asia, from the Globe of Martin Behaim, in 1492, , 147 



CONTENTS. 11 

2. Map, No. .5, of the East Coast of North America, by Juau de la 

Cosa, in 1500, 151 

3. Chart, No. 0, of the New Worlil, by Joliann Paiysch, 1.508, . . 156 

4. Map, No. 7, of North America, from the Globe of Johann Schoncr, 

1520, 158 



CHAPTER V. 

Expeditions of Gaspae and Miguel de Cortereal, to the 
north-eastekn coast of america, ik the years 1500- 
1503. 

1. Introductory Kemarks, 164 

2. First Voyage of Gaspar Cortereal, in 1.500, I'iG 

.3. Gaspar Cortereal's Second Voyage, in 1501, Ifii) 

4. Searching Voyage of Miguel Cortereal, in 1502, 171 

APPENDAGE TO CHAPTER V. 

Charts for the Cortereal Voyages. 

1. Portuguese Chart, No. 8, of the Coasts of Newfoundland, Labra- 

dor, and Greenland, about 1504, 174 

2. Chart, No. 9, of Nova Scotia, Newfoundland, and Greenland, by 

Pedro Reinel, made about 1505, 177 

3. Portuguese Cliart, No. 10, of Florida, Nova Scotia, Newfound- 

land, Labrador, and Greenland, made about 1520, . . . 179 



CHAPTER VI. 

Official and other Voyages, and several Prcjects of 
Discovery from England, Spain, Portugal, and France, 

SUBSEQUENT TO THE EXPEDITIONS OF THE CABOTS AND COR- 
. TEREALS. 

1. Two Patents of Henry VII. of England, to Navigators, in 1501, 

1502. — English Voyages to Newfoundland in the beginning of 
the Sixteenth Century, 183 

2. Portuguese Fishermen on the Newfoundland Banks, . . . 187 

3. Voyages to Newfoundland proposed by <Tuan Dornelos, Juau de 

Agramonte, and Sebastian Cabot, in 1500, 1511, and 1515, . . 192 

4. French Voyages to the North-east of America, after Cabot and 

Cortereal, 199 

5. An English Voyage to the North-west, said to have been made 

under the command of Sebastian Cabot and Sir Thomas Pert, 

in 1517, 206 



12 CONTENTS. 



APPENDAGE TO CHAPTER VI. 

Charts for the first French Discoveries in " Terre Nueve." 

1. Map, No. 11, of New France, composed by the Italian Cosmog- 

raplier, Jacomo di Gastaldi, in 1550, 226 

2. Map, No. 12, of " Tierra Nueva," by G. Ruscelli, 15(;i, ... 233 

CHAPTER VII. 

Spanish Expeditions to the Coast of Florida, from 
Columbus to Ayllon, from 1492 to 1520. 

1. Introductory Remarks, 236 

2. Columbus and the East Coast of the United States, . . . 237 

3. Exi)edition of Ponce de Leon from Porto Rico to the East Coast of 

Florida, in 1513, 240 

4. Voyage of Antonio de Alaminos, from Vera Cruz through the Ba- 

hama Channel to Spain, in 1519 243 

5. Tlie First Expedition of Lucas Vasquez de Ayllon to Chicora 

{the Coast of Carolina), in 1520, 245 



CHAPTER YIII. 

Expeditions to the East Coast of North America under 
THE French, by Verrazano, — the Spaniards, by Gomez,— 
AND THE English, by Rut. 

1. Expedition of Giovanni da Verrazano, in 1524, .... 249 

2. Expedition of Estevan Gomez along the East Coast of North 

America, in 1525, 271 

3. Expedition of two English shi]is, the Mary of Guilford, and the 

Samson, under the command of John Rut, 1527, . . . 281 

APPENDAGE TO CHAPTER VIIL 

I. Charts for Verrazano. 

1. Map, No. 13, of North America, by Michael Lok, in 1582, . . 290 

2. Map, No. 14, of North America, by Baptista Agnese, 1536, . . 292 

3. Map, No. 15, Four Sketches, a, b, c, d, of North America, by difler- 

eut authors, iu 1530-1544, 296 

II. Charts for Gomez. 
1. Chart, No. 16, of the East Coast of North America, from a Map of 

the World, by Diego Ribero, iu 1529, 299 



CONTENTS. 13 

2. Chart of the East Coast of North America, by Alonzo de Chaves, 

in 1530, and Oviedo's Description of the Coast, in 1537, . . 307 

3. Map, No. 17, Sketches 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, G, 7, of the East Coast of the 

United States, by different authors of the Sixteenth Century, . 315 



CHAPTER IX. 

French Expeditions to Canada, in 1534-1543, and Hore's 
Voyage, 153(5. 

1. First Voyage of Jacques Cartier to tlie Gulf and River of St. Law- 

rence, in 1534 320 

2. Second Voyage of Jacques Cartier to the Gulf and River of St. 

Lawrence, in 1535, 329 

3. Voyage of Master Hore, and other Englishmen, to Cape Breton 

and Newfoimdland, in 153G, 337 

4. Expedition of Jean Frangois de la Rogue de Roberval and 

Jacques Cartier to Canada, in 1540 and 1543, 340 

APPENDAGE TO CHAPTER IX. 

Charts for Cartier and Roberval. 

1. Chart, No. 18a, of Newfoundland and the Gulf of St. Lawrence, 

by Caspar Viegas, 1534, 348 

2. Chart, No. 18, on Canada and the East Coast of the United 

States, from a Map of the World, made in 1543, .... 351 

3. Chart, No. 19, of the East Coast of North America, from the 

Atlas of N. Vallard de Dieppe, 1543, 354 

4. Engraved Map of the "World, No. 20, said to have been made 

by Sebastian Cabot in 1544,— and on the Voyage said to have 
been made by John and Sebastian Cabot in 1494, .... 358 

5. Chart, No. 21, of the North-east of North America, by Diego Ho- 

mem, 1558, 377 

6. Chart, No. 22, of the East Coast of North America, from a Map 

of the World, by G. Mercator, in 1569, 384 

CHAPTER X. 

Continuation of the Spanish Expeditions along the 
Coast of Florida. 

1. Expedition of Lucas Vasquez de Ayllon to Chicora (Carolina), 

in 1526, 394 

2. Expeditions of Fernando de Soto, Diego Maldonado, and Gomez 

Arias, 1538-1543, 402 



14 CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER XL 

The Expeditioxs under Eibault and Laltdonnieee to Flor- 
ida, AND THE Spanish and English Undertakings con- 
nected WITH THEM, in 15G2-1574. 

1. The time loetween De Soto and Ribault, including Tlievet's De- 

scription of Maine, 413 

2. First Exploring Expedition of Captain Jean Eibault from Havre 

de Grace to the East Coast of Florida. Georgia, and South Caro- 
lina, in 15()'J, 421 

3. The Fate of the French Settlement at Port Eoyal, 1562-1503, . 432 

4. Second Expedition of the French to Florida under Captain Een6 

de Laudonniere, in 15G4, 434 

5. Voyage of Cax)tain John Hawkins along the Coast of North 

America, from Florida to Newfoundland, in 1505, . . . 440 
(5. Third Expedition of the French to Florida under command of 

Jean Eibault, in 15G5, 447 

7. Expeditions and Surveys made under Don Pedro Menendez de 

Avila, on the East Coast of Florida, in 1565-1567, ... 455 

8. French Exi^edition under Dominique de Gourgues to Florida, in 

1567-1568, 462 

9. Spanish Survey of the East Coast of Florida, in 1573, ... 467 



CHAPTER XII. 

Conclusion and Eecapitulation. 

1. Agency of the Northmen, 477 

2. Agency of the Euglisli, 478 

3. Agency of the Portuguese, 482 

4. Agency of the Spaniards, 484 

5. Agency of the French, 487 

6. Agency of the Italians, 490 

7. Agency of the Germans, 493 

8. Agency of the Netherlanders, 496 

Appendix, 499 

Notice, 501 

Letter of M. D'Avezac, 502 

Index, 515 



LIST OF MAPS. 



PAGE 

I. North Atlantic, by the Zeni, Italian, 1400, ... 07 
II. North Atlantic, by Stephanius, Icelander, 1,570, . ' 107 

III. North Atlantic, by Torlacius, Icelander, KiOO, . . 109 

IV. By Martin Behaim, German, 1492, 147 

V. East Coast of North America, by Juan de la Cosa, 

Spanish, 1500, 151 

VI. New World, by Johann Euysch, GeiTnan, 1508, . . 156 

VII. North America, by Johann Schoner, German, 1520, 158 
VIII. North-east Coast of North America, Anonymous, 

Portuguese, 1504 174 

IX. North-east Coast of North America, by Pedro Eei- 

NEL, Portuguese, 1505, 177 

X. East Coast of North America, Anonymous, Portu- 
guese, 1520, 179 

XI. New France, by Gastaldi, Italian, 1550, .... 226 

XII. Tierra Nueva, by Ruscelli, Italian, 1501, . . . 233 

XIII. North America, by Michael Lok, English, 1582, . . 290 

XIV. America, by Agnese, Italian, 1536, 292 

XV. North America (Four Sketches), 1530-1544, ... 296 

XVI. East Coast of North America, by Ribero, Spanish, 

1529, 299 

XVII. East Coast (Seven Sketches), 315 

XVIIIa. The Gulf of St. Lawrence, etc.. by Viegas, 1534, . 348 
XVIII. Canada and East Coast of United States, Anony- 
mous, French, 1543, 351 

XIX. East Coast of North America, by Vallard, French, 

1543, 354 

XX. East Coast of North America, by Sebastian Ca- 
bot (?), Spams/i, 1544, 358 

XXI. North-east of North America, by Homem, Portu- 
guese, 1558, 377 

XXII. East Coast of North America, by Mercator, Ger- 
man, 1569, 384 



ERKATA. 



37, line 12 from bot., for ' eastern' read ' western.' 

38, " 8 " top, " ' Bayo ' read 'Baye.' 

48, "9.19 " " for ' indentated ' read " indented.' 

49, " 9 " " insert 'southern' before ' entrance.' 
49, " 1 " bot., for ' Riffs ' read ' Reefs.' 

52, " 1 " " " 'islands' rer.d 'inlets.' 
55, " 5 " " " 'Piscataquis ' read 'Piscataqua.' 
64, " 11 " top, for 'they' read 'and.' 
215, paging, for ' 115 ' read ' 215.' 
228, line 18 from top, for ' Jean ' read ' Jacques.' 
233, " 17 " bot. " 'Terra' read 'Tierra.' 
285, " 20 " " " ' Chan ' read ' Khan.' 
293, " 2.3 " " " ' coniectures ' read ' conjecture.s. 
359, " 12 " " " ' defiro' read ' de nro.' 
375, " 9 " bot. " 'mere hant' read 'merchant.' 



INTRODnCTlON, 



The Historical Society of the State of Maine honored me, in the 
month of March of this year, with an invitation to write for them a 
vohime on tlie history of the discovery of the coast of Maine, which 
was to be published in the " Collections " of that Society, during the 
present year. 

The volume was to begin with the history of the earliest discoveries 
made by Europeans on the east coast of North America, in the elev- 
enth century, and proceed with the history of the subsequent discov- 
eries down to the end of the sixteenth century, or to some period 
beyond the middle of that century, that might appear to be a proper 
point of division, if it should be found convenient to confine the vol- 
ume within narrower limits. 

This history, while it should include the discovery of the whole 
length of the eastern coast from Labrador to Florida, was to present a 
more particular account of all the voyages known to have been made 
during that period to, or along the coast of Maine, and show, as far 
as possible, by extracts from the originals, when it had been simply 
passed by, and observed from a distance, and when it had been seen 
more nearly, and more fully described. 

The work was to be accompanied by fac-simile copies of such maps 
and charts, manuscript or printed, as would illustrate these discoveries. 
And it was desired that these maps and charts should be accompanied 
by such notices of their history, and such explanations of their con- 
tents, as would render them both interesting and Instructive to the 
general student. 

This was a difficult task; and the more difficult, because it was to be 
performed in a short time. But feeling a deep interest in the subject, 
and being to a certain degree prepared for the work by my previous 
studies, and the collections I had formerly made, I ventured to accept 
the honorable proposal made to me by the Maine Historical Society ; 
and have tried to meet, in the following volume, the views and wishes 
2 



18 INTRODUCTION. 

they expressed respecting it, so far as my limited means and powers 
would permit. 

Postponing to Chapter I. what I wish to say regarding the physical 
features of the whole country embraced in our survey, I propose in this 
Introduction to lay before the reader my manner of proceeding in the 
work I have undertaken; and, in this view, will now make some ex- 
planations ; first, with regard to the history I am to give of the dis- 
covery of North America, and the limits within which it is to be con- 
lined ; and, .secondly, with regard to the maps by which this history 
is to be illustrated, the principles on which they have been selected 
and arranged, and the manner in which they are treated. 

I. On the History. 

1. Its starting point. 

There may have been European navigators on the east coast of North 
America before the time of the Northmen ; but of this we have only 
vague traditions and uncertain rumors. The first well-ascertained ex- 
peditions from Europe to these regions were made by the Northmen, 
or Scandinavians, near the end of the tenth and beginning of the elev- 
enth centuries. The documents relating to these voyages are for the 
most part preserved in the well-written annals of Iceland. As the 
north-east coast of America was first seen and described by these 
Scandinavian adventurers in the eleventh centui-y, our history ought 
therefore to begin with them. 

2. Its concluding point. 

After the discoveries of the Northmen, but more particularly after 
those of Columbus and the Cabots at the end of the fifteenth century, 
there followed a succession of expeditions to the east coast of North 
America, undertaken by English, Portuguese, French, and Spanish nav- 
igators, which may be generally characterized as diverse in their ob- 
jects, disconnected in their i^lans, often separated from each other by 
long intervals of time, and unproductive of any great or pei'manent 
results. The period, during which this long succession of voyages took 
place, from that of Biarne in 990, in which the coast of North America 
was first seen by J^uropeans, to that of Sir John Hawkins in 1565, in 
which he sailed along the whole extent of our east coast, — a period of 
nearly six centuries, — may be justly regarded as the early period in 
the history of the discovery of North America, during which indeed 
the coast became gradually better known; but in which nothing was 
accomplished for the settlement of the country. 

But at last, toward the end of the sixteenth century, a new era 



INTRODUCTION. 19 

dawned. Those two great and sagacious sovei-eigns, Queen Elizabeth 
of England and Henry IV. of France, began to pay more attention to 
the new world, and particularly to that part of it which lay opposite 
to their western coasts. Then commenced an uninterrupted succes- 
sion of expeditions to these transatlantic coasts, led on by Gilbert and 
Raleigh, by De Monts and Champlain, who were supported by the com- 
missions of their own sovereigns, and zealous to defend their rival 
l>reteusions. The east coast was now explored more minutely, and 
illustrated by better reports and better charts ; particularly the coast 
of Maine, on which the rival claims of England and France came more 
immediately into conflict; aiad, what is more important, permanent 
colonies were now for the first time established. 

It thus appears that, between the second voyage of Hawkins in 156.5, 
and the first voyage of Gilbert and Raleigh under the letters-patent 
of 1578, there is a natural division in the history of American discov- 
ery, into an early and a later period. The termination of the early 
period will naturally form the concluding point of the historical nar- 
rative contained in this volume. 

3. Its contents, their arrangement, and distribution into chapters. 

As discoverers and colonizers of North America, the Northmen stand 
forth in the middle ages foremost and alone, without allies or rivals. 
Hence I have brought together all that is known of their successive 
expeditions, and have treated of them in Chapter II, adding to them 
only the little I have to say regarding the brothers Vadino, Genoese, 
and the brothers Zeni, Venetians, who appear to have sailed at nearly 
the same time, and in nearly the same direction, with the Northmen . 

The old Scandinavian spirit at last died away. The expeditions of 
the Northmen to America gradually ceased, and their colonies in 
America were destroyed. Nevertheless, their knowledge of the west 
was never quite forgotten by them, being perpetuated by their tradi- 
tions. The connection of their colonies in Iceland with Europe, and 
particularly with England, was never entirely broken off. The Eng- 
lish and Hanse towns, in the thirteenth, fourteenth, and fifteenth cen- 
turies, maintained a lively commercial intercourse with Iceland on the 
old north-western route from Europe to America. This probably was 
not without an influence on the subsequent undertakings of Columbus 
and the Cabots. Columbus visited Iceland in the year 1477, and in 
1497 the Cabots sailed from Bristol, the port which was the chief em- 
porium of the intercourse between England and Iceland, for the dis- 
covery of North America. These trading expeditions from England 
to Iceland in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, following next in 



20 INTRODUCTIO^r. 

order after the expeditions of the Noi-thmen, and forming a connecting 
link between them and later enterprises, are treated of in Chapter III. 

Inspired by the example of Columbus, whose discoveries are not 
here rehited, but assumed to be known, the Venetians, John and Se- 
bastian Cabot, made their famous voyages of 1497 and 1498, in which 
N'orth America, if not first discovered, was first re-discovered since the 
time of the Nortlimen, and in which almost its entire east coast was 
first surveyed. To these important voyages of the Cabots, Chapter 
IV. of our volume is devoted. 

In imitation of the example of Columbus and of the Cabots, the 
adventurous Portuguese sent out, at the beginning of the sixteenth 
century, several exploring expeditions to the north-west under the 
command of the brothers Cortereal. These expeditions, though they 
do not appear to liave touched the coast of Maine, are still particularly 
interesting to us, as having tlu'own much light on the neighboring re- 
gions in the north of Maine. They, moreover, conducted Portuguese 
fishermen to tlie Banks of Newfoundland ; and these fishermen be- 
came, at the same time, active explorers of the north-east of America, 
and furnished tlie materials for several highly interesting charts of 
those regions. The expeditions of the Cortereals form the subject of 
our Chapter V. 

Tempted by the advantages offered in the regions recently discov- 
ered, the Bretons, Xormans, and Basques of the west coast of France, 
and also several English and Portuguese adventurers, followed thither 
the steps of the Cabots and the Cortereals. The French, with tlie Por- 
tuguese, for nearly the entire sixteenth century, took the lead in the 
fisheries on the Grand Banks, and in the exi^loration and delineation 
of the adjacent coasts. The interest thus created in these regions 
gave occasion, in France, for several exploring expeditions to the 
north-east of America ; and also, in other countries, to diverse schemes 
and projects for such expeditions as were never performed. In Chap- 
ter VI. I have treated of all these expeditions, which followed after 
the Cortereals, whether simply designed or actually accomplished. 

The explorations of our east coast, undertaken by the English, Por- 
tuguese, and French, whicli have been already described, began at 
Newfoundland in the north, and proceeded thence to the south. The 
Spanish explorations, on the contrary, usually began in the West In- 
dies, and proceeded thence along the coast of Florida toward the 
north, and reached sometimes the coasts of New England. Chapter 
VII. treats of these Spanish operations, from the time of Columbus to 
about tlie time of Ayllon and Cortes, 1524. 

In the years 1.524 and 1525, two expeditions were sent out with tho 



INTRODUCTION. 21 

particular object of exploring the east coast of the present United 
States: the first from France, commanded by VeiTazano, an Italian, 
and the second from Spain, commanded by Gomez, a Spaniard. These 
exjieditlons, tliough proceeding; from different counti-ies, were similar 
in their plans and objects. They were both made at nearly the same 
time. The one was probably a consequence of the other. Botli touched 
the coast of New England, and particularly of Maine. Through the 
entire first half of the sixteenth century, there were no other expedi- 
tions which contributed so much to the knowledge of these coasts. 
The expedition of Verrazano produced our best description, and that 
of Gomez our best chart, of the coast of New England. Each of them 
was also quite isolated. Neither Gomez in Spain, nor Verrazano in 
France, had an immediate successor. One English expedition, how- 
ever, that of the year 1527, was somewhat connected with them, as 
to its date, its purposes, and its results. In view of these considera- 
tions, I have separated these two eminently important expeditions 
from the rest, and treated them together in CnAPTER VIII, to which, 
however, I have added the contemporary English voyage of 1527. 

After Verrazano, the French paused for about ten years, and then 
renewed their efforts for the exploration of some section of the east 
coast neglected by him. From 1534 to 1543, at the suggestion of Car- 
tier, one of their most eminent navigators, and under the commission 
of Francis I, tliej'^ undertook a series of expeditions to the Gulf of St. 
Lawrence, by which, at last, the entire geography of this region was 
disclosed. These expeditions gave rise to some admirable reports and 
maps, which are especially interesting to us from the intimate relations 
existing between the regions described and the State of Maine. The 
history of this series of expeditions is given in Chapter IX. I have 
added to it, however, a short report of an unsuccesful English expedi- 
tion, made to the same regions at the same time. Nearly all the Eng- 
lish expeditions of the sixteenth century are so disconnected that they 
cannot be easily grouped together. Sometimes there are feeble imita- 
tions of the enterprises of other nations, or at the best, results of 
them; and I have therefore thought it proper to disi)Ose of them, as in 
this case, under the head of some greater undertaking of some other 
nation, to which they seem to be most nearly related witli respect to 
time, and perhaps also to plan. 

In Chapter X. I have given an account of the continuation of the 
Spanish expeditions, including that of Ayllon to Chicora, in 1526; that 
of De Soto to the Mississippi, and that of Maldonado and Ai-ias along 
the east coast of North America, in the years 1538-1543. 

After the extensive explorations of Verrazano and Cartier, the 



22 INTRODUCTION. 

French gave the name of New France to a large section of North 
America, and sometimes even to the whole American continent ; and 
they continued to navigate thither, especially to the Banks of New- 
Ibundland and the neighboring coasts. Until near the close of the 
century they took the lead of other nations in the affairs of North 
America. At the time of their religious wars, soon after the middle of 
the sixteenth century, the Huguenots, who had friends in some of the 
western ports, desired to find upon the east coast of North America a 
suitable place, where they might establish a new home for the adherents 
of their religion, condemned and jjersecuted as heretical in France. 
They commenced, therefore, in the year 15G2, a series of exi^loring and 
planting expeditions, under the command of their captains liibault 
and Laudonuiere, to the coasts of " French Florida," the name given by 
them to the region included in our present States of Georgia and South 
Carolina. On these expeditions some new and shorter oceanic routes 
were discovered, which afterwards became common, and were used in 
sailing to the coasts of New England. By these French expeditions to 
Florida, the Spaniards were also attracted to the same regions, and 
under their great navigator, Don Pedro Menendez, explored a great 
part of the east coast. The English also followed the French, under 
the command of Sir John Hawkins, and, conducted by French pilots, 
sailed from thence along the entire east coast of North America. Still 
another expedition, connected in a similar manner with these expe- 
<litions of the French Huguenots, and accompanied and described 
by the celebrated French cosmographer, Andre Thevet, sailed along the 
east coast, and came to anchor in Penobscot Bay. On the breaking up 
of this Huguenot colony, under the assaults of the Spaniards and the 
neglect of their own government, some of the colonists took refuge in 
England, where their reports and maps on the beautiful country of 
'• French Florida " were the means of arousing the English nation to 
those enterprises, which ended at last in the establishment of the col- 
ony of " Virginia." In Chapter XI. I have treated on all the English, 
French, and Spanish expeditions here alluded to. The voyages of 
Uibault and Hawkins, described in this chapter, being the immediate 
precursors of the voyages of Gilbert and llaleigh, with which the later 
period commences, form the approj^riate conclusion of our historical 
report. 

In a concluding chapter, Chat'Ter XII, I have summed up the whole 
contents of the volume; but discarding the chronological arrangement 
l>efore adopted, have distributed this recapitulation under the heads of 
the different nations participating in the enterprises and discoveries 
herein desciibed. 



INTRODUCTION. 23 

4. General remarks. 

1.) In the history of the discovery of the east coast of North America, 
which I have given in these chapters, I have always had special refei- 
ence to the discovery of Maine, as the particnlar object of this volume. 
I have accordingly described the discovery of the other, and especially 
the more remote sections of the coast, less fully, and in more general 
tei-ms ; and at the end of the chapters, in which these other sections 
have been treated, have stated the influence which their discovery may 
have had on the discovery of Maine; while I have at the same time 
given prominence to all those voyages and explorations which were 
intended directly for the coast of Maine, or in which it was incidentally 
observed and surveyed, taking care to give in full the original passages, 
in which this coast and the coasts adjacent to it are described. This, 
pai-ticular coast, and also the entire east coast of the United States, are, 
as the reader will observe, often spoken of by me throughout the work, 
as our coasts. In using this expression, adopted sometimes for the 
sake of brevity, and sometimes for the sake of variety, I have not 
intended to convey the impression of my being a citizen of the State 
of Maine, or of any other State of the Union, but have rather allowed 
myself, almost unconsciously, to identify myself with my subject. 

2.) The further we advance into our subject, and the more active the 
nations as well as individuals appear on the stage, the greater becomes 
the difficulty of grouping the whole mass of partially connected and dis- 
connected enterprises in a strictly chronological order. Sometimes a 
series of voyages having the same object, and following the same route, 
and growing out one from the other, was prosecuted in one and the 
same country for a long course of years ; while during the same period 
of time, expeditions and explorations were undertaken from other 
countries. In observing, therefore, a strict chronological order, and 
relating these enterpiises year by year, as several Spanish authors, for 
instance Herrera and Barcia have done, I should have been forced 
to transport myself and the reader continually from one counti'y to 
another, and there would have been no end of the breaking and the 
mending of the thread of the story. It appeared, therefore, to be evi- 
dently better, that, putting aside chronology, we should follow out the 
enterprises of one nation to a proper stopping-place, and then go back 
and resume the consideration of the contemporaneous enterijrises of 
another nation. 

But on the other hand, the division of the subject according to na- 
tions, which has been adopted by Forster, and other historians, has also 
its great inconveniences, if strictly and exclusively followed. The mari- 
time enterprises of any particular nation, the English for example, 



24 INTRODUCTION. 

were, as a general thing, undertaken not so much from causes origi- 
nating at home, as operating from abroad, and could not be justly 
described, without keeping in view the parallel enterprises of friendly 
or hostile nations, of the allied or rival powers. 

From these considerations I have followed in my work a middle 
course, arranging its materials, partly according to the order of time, 
partly according to that of nationality. If I have met a -group of 
connected enterprises, undertaken in one country, or under the influ- 
ence of a single individual, I have traced it from beginning to end ; 
and then arranged it chronologically with other groups, formed in a 
similar manner. 

3.) With respect to the sources from which I have taken the data for 
my historical report, I have to make the following remarks. It has 
been my endeavor to obtain the best and earliest editions of the woi'ks 
on which I have relied as my authorities. But it has not always been 
possible for me to obtain the " best editions ; " nor always, indeed, 
any editions of some works which I have wished to consult. In these 
cases, I have contented myself with secondary sources. I may say, 
however, that I have seen and consulted most of the great authorities 
in this department of learning, preserved in Oie libraries of Germany, 
Paris, the British Museum, Oxford, New York, Boston, and Cambridge; 
all of which, in the course of my travels, I have formerly visited for the 
purpose of collecting materials for a general history of the discovery of 
America. 

It was my first intention to give an account of the standard works 
on the topics discussed at the beginning of each chapter; but this 
might have rendered the volume too bulky. Instead of this I have 
taken care to refer the reader, in foot-notes, to the works consulted, 
and the editions used. I trust, therefore, he will be satisfied of the 
soUdity of my literary foundation. 

II. On tue Maps. 

Geographical maps and charts have been composed from time imme- 
morial. The ancient Greeks and Romans, and after them the Arabs, 
composed maps. Even the Northmen of the middle ages did the same, 
so far as they were able. In the era of modern discovery, it became 
customary for explorers to draw, during each expedition, a chart, mark- 
ing the configuration, and the latitude and longitude of the new coun- 
try seen by them. These original charts of the discoverers themselves, 
made from actual survey, drawn on board their ships, or composed soon 
after they had reached home, with the assistance of their journals and 
notes, would be, if we possessed them, invaluable historical documents. 



INTRODUCTION 25 

But the instances are rare in which they have been preserved. They 
came at first into the hands of hydrographers and map-makers, who 
copied and reduced them, and embodied their contents in the general 
maps of the worhl, or so-called " Portolanos," — sailing-charts, — which 
they composed for the instruction of the public, or the uses of naviga- 
tion. After having been employed in this manner, they were consigned 
to oblivion. A similar fate soon overtook the copies and compilations 
made from them. For a time, indeed, those great and splendid pictures 
of the new world, which were composed from the original charts of the 
great discoverers, had great celebrity, and were held in high estimation ; 
but only for a time. We liear of new maps, which were liung up by 
kings in their palaces; and of others, which were discussed in the 
academies, and sent from city to city for the inspection of the learned. 
They were studied, copied, engraved, and painted over and over again; 
but only so long as they were new. When another new map appeared, 
which occurred often and after short intervals, the old map disap- 
peared from the palace and the academy, and was laid aside and for- 
gotten. 

The maps which through age liad become erroneous, were consid- 
ered good for nothing, and even held in contempt; though their errors 
often had some good reason, and at least showed the ideas of their 
authors, and of the times in which they were composed. They some- 
times contained excellent intimations of the better views which after- 
wards prevailed. 

For these and other reasons it may be justly said, that there is no 
class of hi.storical documents on which the " tooth of time " has been 
more busy, more cruel and destructive, than on old maps, — those com- 
piled, as well as those made from actual survey, the manuscript, as 
well as the engraved and printed. We could point out some maps 
engraved and printed only a few hundred years ago, and then existing 
in hundreds or thousands of copies, of which now scarcely a copy is 
left, which is valued by amateurs at its weight in gold. 

Nevertheless it has happened, that by chance and good fortune, a 
considerable number of old maps and charts has been preserved to our 
times, either in the public archives, or in the old State libraries of 
the nations of Europe. But even these maps and charts, which had been 
spared by all-destroying time, were scarcely noticed by the historians 
and geographers of the last century ; sharing the neglect with which, 
during that period, Gothic buildings and other mediaeval monuments 
were regarded. Indeed, during this interval, the old maps and charts 
were never invested with the dignity of historical documents. Even 



26 INTRODUCTION. 

those most learned and intelligent French geographers, D'Anville and 
Delille, who were still living in the time of our grandfathers, felt no 
interest in old maps, and did nothing to I'ecover or preserve them; 
though they would have found in them some information not to be 
obtained elsewhere, and might have used them to illustrate and adorn 
their geographical works. 

Historians, geographers, explorers, and travelers have sometimes laid 
down on their maps and charts certain facts, of which they have omit- 
ted to speak in their reports and books, finding it easier to speak to 
the eye than to the ear; or rather to convey the information they wished 
to impart, by using the brief and compact delineations of the map, 
instead of the diffuse and cumbersome phraseology of the book. 

It is not seldom the case, that an old map will contain the only infor- 
mation we possess concerning some expedition or discovery. To give 
a single instance : our books and manuscripts give us very imperfect 
information about those highly interesting expeditions which Cortes 
ordered to be made in the Gulf of California, and along the western 
shores of the Californian peninsula. A chart of these regions, which 
was made by a contemporary of Cortes, and which, near the end of the 
last century, was discovered and published in Mexico, furnishes a most 
satifactory supplement to our knowledge on this subject. 

Moreover, the map-makers of former times were not content with 
merely giving the outline and name of a particular region, but they 
often affixed to it some inscription, legend, or notice, in which they 
informed the reader what kind of people lived there, what animals 
and plants were raised there, and, occasionally, by whom and when 
it was discovered. Now and then remarks like these are seen on 
those old maps : " In the year 1500 the Spaniard Bastidas sailed as far 
as this point;" or, " Here Solis was killed;" or, "In the present year 
Garay has gone out to this country, but is not come back as yet." We 
often see jotted down on the old maps, all kinds of observations, con- 
jectures, and hypotheses, from which we can learn the ideas and no- 
tions which were current at the time when they were comi^osed. 
These old maps were often highly embellished with pictures of the 
mountains, the forests, the animals, the cities of the newly-discovered 
countries, of their aboriginal inhabitants, and of the discoverer and his 
companions in their antique armor and costume, and the flags and 
crosses erected by them ; to say nothing of the monsters in the sur- 
rounding waters, and the ships sailing among them to and fro ; in great 
contrast with the dry and purely scientific character of our modern 
maps. 



INTRODUCTION. 27 

This will suffice * at present, to show the great importance of the old 
maps and charts in the history of discovery. In more modern times 
this importance has come to be more generally acknowledged. Near 
the beginning of this century, a praiseworthy anticiuarian enthusiasm 
was awakened ; and under this impulse historians and geographers 
began to search after old maps in the archives and libraries of the dif- 
ferent States of Europe ; and when they were found, to have them care- 
fully copied, collected, and ijublished; thus repairing, as far as possible, 
the mischief resulting from the carelessness of former times, and restor- 
ing these lost documents to the common treasury of knowledge. To 
recite all that has been done in this way since the beginning of the 
nineteenth century by learned individuals and by scientific bodies, 
would be aside from my present purpose. Suffice it to say, that no 
work on the history of American discovery would now be regarded as 
complete, unless illustrated by copies of the old maps and charts, 
appropriate to the country of which it treats. 

In accordance with these views, and with the wishes expressed by 
the Maine Historical Society, I have in this work paid particular atten- 
tion to the subject of maps. From all which offered themselves for 
illustrating the discovery of the east coast of North America, and 
particularly of the coast of Maine, I have selected, in preference, 
those which come nearest to the first charts ; those, too, made from 
actual survey, by the explorers themselves ; and next to these, such as 
were made by distinguished contemporary cosmographers, and which 
are specially valuable, as exhibiting the leading geographical notions 
and ideas then prevailing. 

The arrangement of the maps is attended with some difficulties. If 
there were a separate original chart for each distinct discovery, there 
could be no question, but that it should be placed in connection with 
the history of that discovery. But generally, even the eai-lier maps are 
only later compilations, and exhibit the results of several explorations 
made in different periods and distant places. However, even in such 
instances, there is commonly, on each map, some one discovery which 
constitutes its most prominent feature, and gives it a special interest. 
I have, therefore, arranged the maps according to their prominent and 
characteristic features, and annexed them to the chapters to which they 
are related by their principal or most important contents. In doing 
this, I have not omitted to notice those contents of the maps which are 

*I take the liberty to refer the reader to a lecture on the subject of the old maps, 
delivered by me in the Sraithsouian Institute in Washington, and published in tho 
Annual Report of the Board of Regents of that Institution for the year 1856, pp. 93-147, 
where the subject is treated more fully. 



28 INTRODUCTION. 

of secondary and subordinate interest; and to connect tliem also, by 
references, with the chapters to which they are related by their subjects, 
to which they allbrd some illustration, and from which they receive 
in turn some explanation. " And as the chapters and the maps are 
both numbered, tlie connection between them can be easily indicated. 

I might have embodied the maps in the chapters they were designed 
to illustrate; but I have thought it preferable to place them in an 
" Appendage " at the end of these chai^ters, and to give the history and 
exijlain the contents of each map in a separate section of this Append- 
age. If, on this method, repetitions could not be wholly avoided, they 
are certainly reduced to the smallest possible number. In our exami- 
nation of the maps it will often appear, that they not only confirm the 
facts related in our history, but often furnish additional information. 

In accepting the proposals made to me by the Maine Historical 
Society, I understood, as they did, that fac-similes of the original maps 
were to be furnished. But in the strict sense of the term, a fac-simile 
is, in my opinion, an impossibility ; and furthei-more, if it could be had, 
it would avail nothing for our purpose. Whether fac-similes should be 
furnished, must always be a question of degree. To give a perfect fac- 
simile, one must make a copy of the old maps of the size, with the 
handwriting, with the gold and silver embellishments, with the yellow, 
red, and blue coloring; nay, with the very material, the rich vellum, of 
the originals, — a ijroceeding beyond the means ordinarily possessed 
either by individuals or societies. 

In giving fac-similes of the old maps, it cannot certainly be under- 
stood, that the enormous size of some of them should be retained. I 
have, therefore, reduced them to more convenient dimensions. The 
reduced copy is not, however, necessarily a less exact copy of the origi- 
nal, than an enlarged copy would be. 

Nor would a fac-simile necessarily require, that the rich coloring of 
the old maps should be followed in the copy. However much this 
might add to the beauty of the map, it would add nothing to its his- 
torical value. From all these various and costly colors, I have there- 
fore retained only two ; blue for the water, and black for the outlines of 
the firm land, and for the names. 

Nor have I undertaken to reproduce exactly the quaint and often 
illegible handwriting, in which the names and inscriijtions are written 
on the old maps ; diftering in fashion in different periods, difi'erent na- 
tions, and in diflerent maps of the same period and nation. To have 
done this, would have been to throw a great deal of heavy work upon 
the reader. I have, therefore, taken this labor upon myself, and have 
written all the names and inscriptions in a uniform style, and in our 



INTRODUCTION. 29 

current letters. And if it sliould appear to the reader, that on this 
plan he finds, in the case of doubtful names, nothing but my own pri- 
vate opinion ; it might be a question, whether he would fare better, in 
being left to decipher them for himself. Besides, my rendering of the 
old names, in many cases, is the same as had been given before by 
learned geograi)hers, and is commended to the reader by their high 
authority. 

To guard against all error in this matter, I have stated in my account 
of each map how far, and in what sense, it may be considered a fac- 
simile copy of the original. 

At all events, the reader will understand, that in reducing the size of 
the old maps, and in modernizing their handwriting, I have not made 
my task any easier. The method I have adopted, and wiiich I think is 
an invention of my own, is no labor-saving contrivance. It would have 
been a far easier task for me, to place the original in the hands of a 
competent artist, and simply to have required of him an exact and 
faithful copy. 

I will add nothing to these introductory remarks, but the expression 
of my hearty wish, that the manner in which I have performed the diffi- 
cult work assigned to me, and have solved the many intricate problems 
connected with it, may prove to be satisfactory to the members of the 
Historical Society of Maine, and to the patriotic citizens of that State, 
and that they will be kindly disposed to excuse its manifold imperfec- 
tions. 

Bremen (Germany), 29 August, 18G8. 



DISCOYEEY or THE COAST OF MAINE. 



CHAPTER I. 

PHYSICAL FEATURES OF THE GULF AND COAST 
OF MAINE. 



1. IkTKODUCTORY IiE^rARKS. 

The first navigators and explorers of our coasts and waters 
reconnoitered, and the old map-makers depicted them, only 
in a very rouoh and general manner. In introducino; a 
report on their history by a hydrographic description, it is not 
my intention to go into all the details of the subject. To 
describe minutely every little harbor or island on the coast, 
to enter deeply into its geology and geography, in our case 
would be perfectly superfluous ; because all these smaller 
objects, during the period of time which we have to examine, 
never came into consideration. They were not observed by 
the first explorers, who from time to time, often after long 
intervals, appeared on our shores, sweeping along tliem in 
good or bad weather ; and were never represented on their 
charts, or mentioned in their reports. They became impor- 
tant only at a later date, when our regions Avere oftener 
visited, and when the nature and value of every spot and 
corner for commercial purposes or settlement, were better 
estimated. For such a later period, a more detailed examina- 
tion no doubt would become necessary. 



32 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 

Here it will be sufficient and proper, to give only a general 
description of the coast, and to point out those very prom- 
inent physical features, which from the beginning of the dis- 
covery of America by Europeans came into notice, by which 
the old mariners and cosmographers themselves were struck, 
and which can serve us for the better understanding of their 
doings, writings, and charts. 

2. General Configuration" of the Continent of JSToeth 

America. 

The continent of North America, of which the territory of 
the present State of Maine is but a very small part, may be 
said to form an irregular quadrilateral region of dry land, a 
kind of rhomboid of colossal proportions facing on all sides, 
with only one small exception, the salt-water. 

This great quadrangle is broad in the north, and somewhat 
contracted toward the south. 

The southern coast-line, along the shores of the American 
Mediterranean Sea, and more particularly of the Gulf of 
Mexico, is, therefore, not very extended. In a rough meas- 
sure, and as far as the great mass of the continent goes, it is 
about 1500 miles long. And the continent, by a long and 
gigantic bridge of countries, is united there to its sister conti- 
nent, South America. By this bridge, or isthmus, the coast- 
line is broken, the surrounding waters interrupted, and the 
form of the quadrangle made still more irregular. 

The northern or arctic coast-line runs from Behring Strait 
in the west, to Labrador and the north coast of Newfound- 
land in the east, whei'e it ends at Cape Race. It has an 
enormous exten.t of more than four thousand miles, and 
faces the arctic waters, which, for the greater jiart of the 
year are frozen over or filled with icebergs and not navigable. 
Though upon the whole it runs from west-north-west to east 



THE COAST OF MAINE. 33 

south-?ast, still it is made very irregular by great peninsulas, 
large islands, bays, and gulfs, deviating from the general 
trending of the coast-line. The largest and most important 
of these bays of the arctic coast is Hudson's Bay. And by 
far the largest island in its neighborhood is Greenland, from 
which the continent is separated by the broad and gigantic 
channel of Davis' Strait and Baffin's Bay. 

The west coast extends from Behring Strait to Mexico 
and to the above-mentioned Central American bridge, or 
isthmus. It has, likewise, an extended length of about four 
thousand miles, a general trending from north north-west to 
south south-east, facing the Pacific Ocean. It has many 
peninsulas and gulfs, which project beyond the general coast- 
line. The largest of them are the peninsulas of California, 
the gulf of the same name in the south, and the peninsula of 
Alaska and Behrino;'s Sea in the north. 

The east coast of North America extends from Cape 
Florida in the south, to Cape Race in the north, with a 
general length of about two thousand miles. It is, on the 
whole, pretty straight-lined, and has a general trending from 
south-west to north-east, facing the Atlantic Ocean. It, 
therefore, more exactly should be called the south-east coast 
of North America. But for brevity, we may be allowed to 
adopt the name east coast. 

3. The four Great Gflfs of the East Coast of North 

America. 

On the east coast of North America, of which the terri- 
tory of the State of Maine forms a prominent part, are five 
projecting points, or peninsulas, which stand out more to the 
east of the general coast-line. 

1. In the south, the southern part of the peninsula of 
Florida. 



34 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 

2. The broad peninsula of North Carohna, ending in 
Cape Hatteras. 

3. The peninsula of New England, running out with 
Cape Cod. 

4. The gi-eat hammer-like peninsula of Nova Scotia, 
offering a long coast to the ocean. 

5. The south-western peninsula of Newfoundland, pro- 
jecting to the east with Cape Race. 

These peninsulas and capes form and hold between them 
four large gulfs or bays, namely, the following : 

1. Between Cape Florida and Cape Hatteras is a broad 
and not very deep gulf, which has its most interior part on 
the coast of the State of Georgia, and which we, therefore, 
might call the Gulf of Georma. 

2. To the north of it, between Cape Hatteras and the 
peninsula of New England, is included a similar not very 
deep gidf, which, from the principal State and port on its 
shores, might, perhaps, be called the Gulf of New York. 

3. Between Cape Cod and Nova Scotia is formed a some- 
what smaller, but more marked gulf, on which we shall 
have to treat here somewhat more particularly. 

4. By Nova Scotia, Newfoundland, and Canada is con- 
fined a gulf, which has only two narrow outlets to the south 
and north of Newfoundland, is nearly everywhere sur- 
rounded by land, and might, therefore, be called a Mediter- 
ranean Basin. It has a somewhat square form, and, there- 
fore, in ancient times, was called " Golfo quadrado" (the 
square-shaped gulf). After the discovery of the River St. 
Lawrence emptying into it, it obtained the name, Gulf of 
St. Lawrence. 

The discovery and history of all these gulfs is more or less 
connected with the history of the gulf and coast of Maine, 
which stands in the midst of them. I shall, therefore, have 



THE COAST OF MAINE. 35 

to allude to them often, and it was necessary to point them 
out in a general way, and to state under what names I 
intended to mention them. 

I now will try to delineate somewhat more particularly 
the principal features of the Gulf of Maine,, as far as they 
are of interest to us. 

4. Name of the Gulf between Cape Cod and 
Nova Scotia, 

The gulf between Cape Cod and Nova Scotia, though it 
forms a very marked and peculiar piece of water, has, up to 
this day, no generall}^ adopted name. Usually, in our geo- 
graphical works and maps, it is left without any name what- 
ever. 

The first Spanish describers of this coast sometimes used 
for it, as will appear hereafter, the name, "Arcipelago de 
Tramontana" (the Northern Archipelago), or, from the first 
Spanish explorer, " Arcipelago de Gomez" (the Archipelago 
of Gomez), 

The old French fishermen, who visited it sometimes, from 
the great banks, probably gave to it the name "The Gulf" 
or " Sea, of Norumbega," which latter was their name for 
the country stretched out along our gulf; 

At a later time, when the English colony of Massachu- 
setts was established, the name "Bay of Massachusetts" 
was introduced, and sometimes applied to the entire gulf, 
though this name at present is usually given to only a small 
section of it. 

Because the gulf is formed by the peninsula of New 
England, and because the principal States and harbors of 
New England stretch along its coasts, the name of " Gulf of 
New England" would be a very proper appellation. 

The name, "Gulf of Maine," was proposed and used 



36 " IVIAINE HISTOEICAL SOCIETY. 

in the year 1832 by the Edinburgh Encyclopedia,* and in 
more modern times by officers of the United States Coast 
Survey. This name is particularly appropriate, because the 
State of Maine stretches along the inner parts of the gulf, 
and occupies by far the greater section of its coasts, and 
especially those which are most characteristic of these waters. 
Moreover, Maine-built vessels and Maine sailors are the most 
numerous coasters of the gulf. And last, but not least, the 
name is shorter and more euphonious than all the others, 
and probably, therefore, will soon come into general use. 

For these reasons I am inclined to adopt in my work the 
name of "Gulf of Maine," thougli, for the sake of vai'iety, 
I may also, in some cases, use the name of " Gulf of New 
England." 

5. Size axd General Configukation op the Gulf of 

Maine. 

The Gulf of Maine has a much more marked form and 
figure than the two other great gulfs of the United States 
mentioned above. Its principal body begins in the north at 
Cape Sable, with the rectangular or square-shaped southern 
end of Nova Scotia. From Cape Sable the coast-line runs 
for some distance to the north-west, and a continuation of 
this line strikes the coast of Maine at Quoddy Head, at the 
distance of somewhat more than one hundred miles from 
Cape Sable. 

From Quoddy Head, the general line of the coast runs for 
about 160 miles as far as Cape Elizabeth, to the west south- 
west. But there it begins to trend more decidedly to the 
south-west and south, and, in the vicinity of Boston, it turns 
round to the south-east and east toward Cape Cod and the 

* See the Edinburgh Encyclopedia, Philadelphia edition, 1832, by Thos. 
Parker. Vol. XVUI, p. 263. Article, " United States." 



THE COAST^OF MAINE. 37 

Nantucket Shoals, forming in this manner a kind of semi- 
circular line of about 150 miles in length. 

Cape Sable and the peninsula of Cape Cod may be called 
the outposts or entrance-capes of the gulf. They are about 
230 miles distant from each other. And this may be con- 
sidered the base-line, or the breadth of the gulf. From this 
base-line to the inner parts of the gulf at the coast of Maine 
is about a distance of 120 miles, which may be called the 
depth of the gulf. 

Summing up this, the Gulf of Maine may be described 
as a square-shaped or somewhat semicircular basin, of a depth, 
from south-east to north-west, of 120 miles ; and of a width 
or breadth, from north-east to south-west, of about 230 miles. 

Everywhere in old reports and charts of the east coast of 
America, where we meet in our latitudes a semicircular bay 
of about the said size and figure, we may presume that the 
Gulf of Maine has been meant. 

From this regular form adopted for it, the Gulf of Maine 
shows, however, one very remarkable deviation or exception. 
The "square" or "semicircle" is not closed in the north- 
east corner. There, on the contrary, the basin opens and 
runs out between the north-eastern coast of Nova Scotia and 
the south-eastern coast of New Brunswick, into a broad and 
long appendage or bay, which again, at its eastern end, sepa- 
rates into two narrow branches, running out toward the 
north and east. 

This somewhat hidden bay appears to have been very- 
little known to the early Spanish and French official 
explorers of our coast. It is not clearly indicated in the 
reports of Verrazano (1524), nor in those of Gomez (1525). 
But we find on the first old Spanish maps, in the latitude 
where it ought to be, names like these: "Rio hondo" or 
fondo (a deep river), or "Bahia honda" or fonda (a deep 



38 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 

bay) ; or " Golfo " (a gulf) ; once, also, " La Bahia de la 
Ensenada" (the bay of the deep inlet). I presume that 
these were Spanish names for that bay. There is no doubt 
that the early Portuguese and French fishermen of the Great 
Bank also visited and knew this bay, so rich in fish. We 
see it depicted on their charts, but without a name. After- 
ward, from the beginning of the seventeenth century, the 
French gave to it the name "La Bayo Fran^oise " (the 
French Bay). But this name has disappeared, probably 
because it was not acceptable to the English settlers. The 
present name of the gulf is "Bay of Fundy," which, how- 
ever, on maps of the seventeenth, and early part of the eight- 
eenth century especially, is written " Bay of Funda." I 
believe, therefore, that this modern name grew out from, and 
is a revival of, the old Spanish name, " Bahia fonda." 

If we unite the Bay of Fundy with its two interior 
branches, and the Gulf of Maine, taking them as a whole, 
we may say, that the entire piece of water in its configura- 
tion is very much like the figure of a colossal turnip with a 
broad head, a small body, and two thin roots. 

6. Soundings. 

The soundings of the Gulf of Maine, and the nature of 
its submarine bottom, have not for us a very ui'gent interest. 
We will enter into their examination only so for as is 
necessary to prove, that there existed in this gulf no great 
obstacles to navigation ; that it was rather inviting for the old 
mariners ; and that they easily, and without great danger, 
might sail from one end of the gulf to the other in all 
directions. 

The entire central parts of the gulf between the penin- 
sulas of Nova Scotia and New England present a large 
sheet of navigable water of a mean depth of about one 



THE COAST OF MAINE. 39 

hundred fathoms. This depth comes very near to the shores 
of the continent. The fifty-fothom line runs nearly every- 
where along the coast at a distance of only about sixteen 
miles, and sometimes comes much nearer. In this respect, 
the Gulf of Maine, in comparison with the two other great 
gulfs of the United States, is quite peculiar. At the south 
of Cape Cod, in the " Gulf of New York," the fifty-fathom 
line remains at a distance of more than sixty miles from the 
coast. 

From the fifty-fathom line the soundings in the Gulf of 
Maine decrease very gradually toward the rocky coasts to 
twenty and ten fathoms. This latter depth enters into many 
bays and inlets, and runs sometimes deep into the interior of 
the country. We may say, therefore, that the cliffs, islands, 
and rocky shores of Maine are everywhere surrounded by 
navigable and convenient soundings of a middling depth. 

7. The Fishing Banks and Shoals. 

From the bottom of the ocean, surrounding the coast of 
Maine and the neighborino; countries, rise several laro;e and 
small more or less elevated plateaus, the surface of which lies 
not very deep under the level of the sea, and which are called 
banks. 

The most extended of these plateaus or banks begins oppo- 
site Newfoundland, to the east of it. It stretches out in its 
greatest length north and south from about 50° to 42° north 
latitude, with an average breadth of about 150 miles, and has 
been called, from time immemorial, " The Great Bank," or 
"The Grand Bank of Newfoundland." 

From the middle parts of this great bank a long chain of 
smaller banks runs out to the west and south-west a long way. 
This chain begins on the south of Newfoundland Avitli the 
St. Peter's Bank, having the smaller Whale Bank and Green 



40 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 

Bank to the soutli of it. To the south of Cape Breton Island, 
stands the Middle Bank and the Banquereau. To the south 
of Nova Scotia stands Sable Island Bank, with the remarka- 
ble island of the same name, and further to the south-west, 
Rosewaj and Le Have Bank, formerly also called Brown's 
Bank. 

The western end of this chain of banks approaches the 
Gulf of Maine in the George's Bank, and still nearer in the 
Nantucket Shoals at the east of the peninsula of Cape Cod ; 
and enters this Gulf in Jeffrey's Bank and Jeffrey's Ledge 
along the coasts of New Hampshire and Maine. 

All these banks, having pretty deep water above them, arc 
generally no obstacle to navigation. Only a few very shoal 
places on the Great Bank are an exception ; and also that 
sandy low Sable Island, famous for its dangers and ship- 
wrecks. St. George's Bank has also some bad shoals, and 
the Nantucket Shoals form a Avhole nest of rips dangerous to 
navigation. Also on " Cashe's Ledo;e," in the midst of the 
Gulf of Maine, a few dancrerous soundino;s have been dis- 
covered. 

All the said banks, more particularly the "Great Bank," 
are the breeding-places of innumerable little animals, which 
servo as food for several sorts of fish. Herring, salmon, 
haddock, and other valuable fish resort to them in great 
numbers. But above all, the most important of them, the 
cod, called by the French " La Morue," by the Italians 
" Merluzzo," by the Germans " Kabeljau," by the Spaniards 
and Portuguese " Bacallaos." 

This most historical of all the fishes of the sea has its prin- 
cipal habitat through the whole northern half of the Atlantic 
Ocean, from the coasts of Europe between 50° and 60° north 
latitude to the coasts of America from 58° down to 42° north 
latitude. On the coasts of Europe in Norway, Germany, 



THE COAST OF MAINE. 41 

France, Great Britain, the Slictlands, etc., it was hunted 
after by the fishermen of these countries from time imme- 
morial ; and also for a very long time in the vicinity of Ice- 
land, where, principally in the thirteenth and fourteenth 
centuries, and also before and after, it was the standard 
article of commerce. At the end of the fifteenth century the 
western end of the cod-fish region on the above-mentioned 
banks of North America was discovered, which, in richness 
of fish, surpassed all the rest, and which soon attracted there 
the French, the Basques, the Portuguese, and also the Eng- 
lish fishermen, merchants, and navigators in great numbers ; 
so that the cod-fish gave occasion for the better exploration 
and settlement of these regions. 

The chain of cod-fishing banks, which, as I have said, 
ended in the Gulf of Maine, led the European repeatedly to 
the coasts of Maine, to Cape Cod, and to the Bay of Fundy ; 
which latter bay, in this direction, was about the last refuge 
and hiding-place of the every-where hunted cod-fish. 

8. CUREENTS. 

On the details of the currents in the Gulf of Maine we 
have as yet very little exact knowledge. The general move- 
ment and tendency of the waters in this basin, I believe, may 
be described thus : 

The cold arctic current comes down in a south-western 
direction along the south-east coast of Nova Scotia as far as 
Cape Sable. From this cape it continues its initial direction, 
setting across the broad entrance line of the Gulf of Maine, 
and drawino; with it the waters of the south-west coast of 
Nova Scotia from Bryer's Island to Cape Sable, which there, 
consequently, will run in a south-eastern direction, uniting 
themselves Avith the arctic current. 

This arctic current pursues its south-western course toward 



42 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 

Cape Cod and tlie great submarine })lateaus or banks to tlie 
east of this cape. By these banks and capes the current is 
probably divided, and partly turned off. The principal body 
moves onward Avitli its initial direction along the south coast 
of New England. But one branch of it turns to the north- 
west and north alonf^ the coasts of Massachusetts and Maine ; 
so that in this manner a somewhat circular movement of the 
waters takes place in the basin of the Gulf of Maine. I will 
only add the remark, that the soundings, being deepest in the 
midst of the gulf, appear to support and prove this view. 

The north-westerly and northerly current along the coasts 
of Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Maine, has been 
proved by actual experiment of the officers of the United 
States Coast Survey, who have made regarding it the fol- 
lowing observation : " Our experiments have revealed the 
existence of a coast-current sweeping along the westerly part 
of Cape Cod Bay, and there taking a course northward. At 
first it is feeble, but it gathers considerable strength further 
to the north." * 

The existence of such a current may have influenced the 
reports and charts of early navigators not acquainted with it, 
and not bringing it into account. Sailing from the north 
along our coast, and being retarded l)y the current, such a 
navigator would be inclined to think his latitude to be more 
southerly than it really was, and consequently would put on 
his map Cape Cod, for instance, under a more southern lati- 
tude than it has. 

The Gulf-stream from Florida runs at some distance ahmg 
the coast of the United States from south-west to north-east. 
Many navigators sailed along with it without knowing it. 
Arriving with the Gulf-stream in sight of t^ape Cod and 

* See this in the Coast Survey Report of the year 1860, \). 43. 



THE COAST OF MAINE. 43 

tlie Nantucket Shoals, they would also be inclined to give 
to this cape a more southerly latitude than it has. We, 
therefore, in examining the old charts, should always have in 
mind the direction of these coast-currents and their proLable 
influence on the operations and on the charts of the old 
navigators. 

9. Tides. 

The rise and fall of the tides in the Gulf of Maine and 
along its shores are known to be very great. They are the 
highest on the entire east coast of the United States, and 
those in the Bay of Fundy, perhaps the highest on the globe. 

The spring tides on the shores of the Gulf of Maine some- 
times have a rise and fall of more than twenty feet, and in 
the interior parts of the Bay of Fundy even, it is said, of 
more than fifty feet. Throughout the whole Gulf of Maine 
they may be said to have a mean rise and fall of ten feet. 

These high tides begin at once north of Cape Cod penin- 
sula, and end at once at the south of it ; so that, for instance, 
the harbor of Plymouth, at the north of Cape Cod, has a 
mean rise and fall of more than ten feet, whilst the harbor of 
Hyannis at the south of it, and only a few miles distant from 
Plymouth, has but a mean rise and fall of about three feet ; 
and from there, these low tides are found along the entire 
coast development of the United States, as far down as 
Cape Florida, generally decreasing in this direction, and 
only exceptionally at some places (for instance. New York) 
increasing again, though they nowhere arrive to the height of 
the tides of the Gulf of Maine. So that this gulf, also, in 
this respect is marked among all the waters of the United 
States, and makes quite an exceptional and peculiar feature. 

* See upon this the Tide-table in Coast Survey Eeport of tlie year 1863, 
p. 86. 



44 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 

These high tides make the inlets and rivers of Maine 
navigable for large vessels as high as their lowest falls, where 
they are arrested. They carried the vessels of early navi- 
gators as high np into the interior as these falls. They also, 
in modern times, probably, have facilitated the business of 
ship-building, one of the principal trades of the population 
of Maine. 

10. Climate, Temperature, Winds, Fogs. 

The Gulf of Maine may be said to lie between the lati- 
tudes of 42° and 45° north. The territory of the State of 
Maine extends about two degrees further north. It is the 
most northern among the States of the east coast of the 
Union. The nature of its climate inclines more to the 
countries north of it (Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, etc.) 
than to the States south of Cape Cod. This cape, also, in 
that respect marks a very striking division. The neighboring 
countries to the south of it (Rhode Island, etc.) have a much 
milder climate than those to the north. Even the waters at 
the north of Cape Cod, throughout the entire Gulf of Maine, 
are, particularly in summer-time, remarkably colder than 
those in the south, though in latitude they differ only by a 
few minutes. The arctic current branches off into the Gulf 
of Maine and circulates in it, whilst the warm Gulf-stream is 
directed to the more southerly coast of New England, and 
warms its waters. 

All the shores of the Gulf of Maine, and particularly 
those of the State of Maine, like Canada, have a climate of 
extremes. The temperature is said to range between 100° 
above and 30° below zero of Fahrenheit, and even more. The 
frosts of winter are nearly uninterrupted, and the lakes and 
rivers may be passed on ice from the beginning of December 
to the beginning of April. The harbors on the coast of 



THE COAST OF MAINE. 45 

Maine, especially that of Portland, are usually open through- 
out the year. The Canadian line of British Steamers make 
Portland their winter port. The entire line of sea-coast, 
however, has a somewhat more moderate chmate and tem- 
perature, being cooler in summer and warmer in winter than 
the interior parts. 

The country, therefore, was little sought after for settle- 
ment by the nations of southern Europe. The Spaniards 
always considered it to be a too northern and little inhabi- 
table country, even when they had settlements on the coast 
of Florida, Georgia, and South Carolina. And the French 
and English at first, likewise, turned their eyes to the more 
promising South. The French very early tried settlements 
in Florida, and the English in North Carolina and Virginia. 

With respect to her northern sister countries (Nova Scotia, 
Canada, Labrador^ etc.), Maine is a more southern country. 
The French, after having in vain tried some plantations in 
Canada in the beginning of the seventeenth century, resorted 
to Maine as being milder, and, for some time, thought to give 
it the preference to Canada. And, in times of old, the 
Northmen came down from Iceland and Greenland to New 
England, to make it their favorite country, calling it "the 
good country." 

South-westerly winds, coming from the Atlantic and from 
the Gulf-stream, warm the waters and shores of the Gulf of 
Maine, whilst north-westerly winds, coming from Canada and 
the coldest region of North America, lower the temperature. 
North-westerly gales come down sometimes Avith great ftiry 
from the mountains and woods in the interior, being the most 
dreaded winds in the Gulf of Maine. We hear of the 
influence of north-western gales even in the time of the 
Northmen. 

The Gulf and coast of Maine, like other countries to the 



46 MAINE HISTOKICAL SOCIETY. 

north-east, have always been famous for their fogs. They are 
often so thick and dense, that sometimes the coast and its 
inlets are hidden by them for several weeks. Particularly 
the opening to the Bay of Fundy from time to time is closed 
by a bank of fog lying before it like a wall. 

The cause of these fogs, probably, is to be found in the 
warm and cold currents of water and air mixing and meeting 
each other in these regions. The fogs take place with south- 
erly winds, coming from the warm Gulf-stream, oftener than 
Avith any other wind. They being warm and moist, and 
falling upon the cold waters of the Gulf of Maine, are con- 
densed and show their watery contents. Northerly winds, 
coming from the dry country, and being more of the same 
temperature with the cold water of the gulf, will clear away 
these fogs. But they do this only as far as the cool water of 
the Gulf of Maine and of the arctic current extends. As 
soon as they enter the warmer column of air above the Gulf- 
stream water, they, of course, produce these fogs by cooling 
and condensing the air. 

In examining the history of the early navigators we must, 
also, have in mind the accidents and errors occasioned by 
the fogs. It is possible that such a large and broad water as 
the Bay of Fundy, for a long time was not depicted on the 
official maps of the European kings, because their official 
explorer, at the time of his arrival, could not recognize it 
from such a bank of fog being stretched out like a range of 
mountains before its entrance. In the same manner in mod- 
ern times Sir James Ross, in Lancaster Sound, believed he 
saw mountains, where there were but fogs, and depicted this 
sound as land-locked, whilst it had the widest open water in 
the world. 



THE COAST OF MAINE. 47 

11. Deviation of the Magnetic Needle. 

The deviation of the magnetic needle in our days amounts, 
in the Gulf of Maine, to a variation of from thirteen tc 
fourteen degrees west. The variation, of course, has been 
different at different times, and through the course of centu- 
ries. As the old navigators of the fifteenth and sixteenth 
centuries were little acquainted with this deviation, and coidd 
not bring it into account, their tracks and courses, and also 
their coast-lines, were not truly laid down on their charts. 
In examining their old charts we should have this always in 
mind, though perhaps it would, from other reasons, not be 
worth our while to try to fix the amount of magnetic varia- 
tion for every period of time, and to make out how it may 
have influenced and injured the observation of every old 
explorer and the correctness of his chart. 

12. Capes, Headlands, Peninsulas, Indentations. 

The continental region bordering the coast of the Gulf of 
Maine presents, throughout, an elevated hilly and rocky 
country, built up by volcanic action, and presenting granite, 
syenite, and several other eruptive or metamorphic rocks, 
alternating with silurian strata, fossiliferous limestone, and 
argillaceous schists. 

The rivers coming out from the interior, the waves and 
tides of the ocean, ice and snow, and other eroding agencies, 
have worked upon the- softer substances, and have scooped 
out along the coast an innumerable quantity of friths, head- 
lands, narrow peninsulas, high, sharp-projecting points, necks, 
islands, reaches, bays, and coves, with which the coast is 
lined and serrated. 

These numberless indentations are quite a peculiar and 
characteristic feature of the coast of Maine. No other sec- 



48 MAINE HISTOEICAL SOCIETY. 

tion of tlie entire east coast of tlie United States has a similar 
character and configuration. Only beyond the limits of the 
Union, along the shores of the more northern British pos- 
sessions, do we find coast-lines which offer the same singular 
aspect ; and it is remarkable enough, that they are nearly 
all in the same position with respect to the ocean as that 
portion of the coast which we have in view. 

The south-eastern coasts of Nova Scotia, Cape Breton 
Island, and Newfoundland are all serrated, indentated, torn 
to pieces, and ragged like the coast of Maine ; and they all, 
like this, fti(ie the broad ocean and ' are open to its action : 
whilst the northern and western shores of these same coun- 
tries, which are turned to the interior of the Bay of Fundy 
and of the Gulf of St. Lawrence, are much more rounded or 
straightened, without a great number of deep friths and head- 
lands. It would appear from this, that the waves and tides 
of the ocean have been among the principal agencies by 
which those indentations were scooped out. 

We find, however, very similarly indentated coasts through- 
out all the cold regions of the north, as well on the eastern 
as on the western side of America ; and again in Greenland, 
Iceland, and also in northern Europe, in Scotland, Scandi- 
navia, etc. Then, again, we find them in the cold regions of 
the South, in the Strait of Magellan, in Patagonia, Terra del 
Fuego, the Falkland Islands, etc. It is, therefore, very 
probable, that ice and snow and the action of the glaciers 
had something to do with their formation. 

It is impossible, and also unnecessary, to mention and 
describe here all the innumerable capes, spits, and necks of 
our coast. I will enumerate only those which, during the 
period of its early history, appear to have come into considera- 
tion and to have got a noted name. 



THE COAST OF MAINE. 49 

1. Cape Cod. The peninsula of New England, at the 
south of our gulf, with a pointed angle, runs far out to the 
east, and projects much beyond the general line of the east 
coast. It ends with a narrow, low, sandy, more or less hilly 
piece of country, called Barnstable, or Cape Cod, peninsula. 
This peninsvda turns with a still narrower spit of land like a 
hook to the north, and ends with a crooked headland, at 
present called Cape Cod. 

The whole may be considered as forming the entrance- 
cape of the Tjrulf of Maine. By several islands to the south 
of it, particularly by Nantucket Island, and then by several 
dangerous banks and shoals, called the Nantucket Shoals, 
stretching out still further toward the east and into the 
ocean, the whole locality is made more prominent; and from 
the beginning of navigation it must have been a very 
striking and remarkable object for all the mariners sailing 
along the coast. On the entire east coast of the United 
States only one cape (Cape Hatteras) exists, which may be 
compared to Cape Cod Avith respect to conspicuousness and 
importance in the history of navigation. 

Cape Cod could scarcely escape observation by any navi- 
gator coming along our shores from the north. Those 
coming from the south sometimes may have been turned off 
from the coast by the Gulf-stream without getting in sight of 
the cape. Cape Cod, therefore, usually has been descried 
from the north. The Northmen, the Spaniard Gomez, the 
French under De Monts, the English under Gosnold, were 
all, sailing from north to south, arrested by this cape. 

The Northmen compared the crooked figure of the cape to 
the prow of a vessel, and called it " Cape Shipsnose " 
(Kialarnes). The Spaniards were frightened by the dan- 
gerous shoals at the south-east of it, and named it " Cabo de 
Arecifes" (Cape of the Riffs). The French and Dutch 
4 



50 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 

were struck by the appearance of its sandy white bluffs, 
which shine fiir out into the sea, and named it sometimes 
tlie White Cape, or the White Hook (Cape Blanc, Witte 
Hoeck). An English captain at last, from the fish which 
he cauglit there, gave to it its present name, " Caj)e Cod." 

In the course of our investigations, we shall have occasion 
often to refer to this cape, which occupies so prominent a 
figure in the navigation of the coast, and which, when we 
meet with it on the old charts, gives us useful hints concern- 
ing them, and enables us, sometimes, to trace tlie routes of 
the navigators. 

2. Cape Ann. From Cape Cod along the shores of our 
gulf to the north, we find no other more prominent point than 
Cape Ann, the extreme point of the rocky peninsula of Essex 
county. It is high and conspicuous, and was probably often 
seen by early navigators. I believe that I have found some 
traces of it in the reports of the old Northmen on our 
coast, and I suppose that it was the same cape, which, at a 
later date, the Spaniards called " Cabo de Sta Maria" 
(St. Mary's Cape). 

3. Cape Elizabeth. Cape Elizabeth, in its configuration, 
elevation, and appearance somewhat similar to Cape Ann, is, 
in several respects, one of the most remarkable points on our 
coast. 

First, it stands out several miles beyond the general line 
of the coast to the sea, and is very conspicuous. Then it 
makes a change in the direction of the coast-line, which, 
as far as this cape, runs more northerly, and then, with 
an obtuse angle, it turns more to the east. At the same 
time, it marks a change in the condition and nature of the 
coast. To the south of Cape Elizabeth, among the rocky 



THE COAST OF MAINE. Bl 

necks and spits, arc sometimes to be fomid low sandy Leaches. 
But beyond Cape Elizabeth, to the north-east, these sandy 
beaches totally disappear, and everything is converted into 
innumerable cliffs, necks, tongues, and islands. From this it 
appears possible, that it was this cape which the Spaniards 
called " Cabo de muchas islas" (cape of the many islands), 
and wliich they so often depicted on their charts somewhat to 
the west of Penobscot Bay.* It is, however, also possible, 
that the neighboring cape, " Bald-head," surrounded on 
both sides by numerous islands, was meant by that old 
Spanish name. 

The rest of the many capes and spits on the coast of 
Maine are so much alike, that none of them can be called 
strikingly prominent. None of them have been so often men- 
tioned and so clearly designated by the old navigators, as to 
enable us to recognize and identify them. I omit, therefore, 
a particular description of them. 

4. Cape Sable. The southern part of Nova Scotia forms 
a broad square-shaped peninsula. It runs out under a more 
or less right angle, the extreme point of which is called, from 
very old times, " Cape Sable." It forms the north-eastern 
entrance-cape of the Gulf of Maine, being distant from its 
south-eastern entrance-cape (Cape Cod) about 230 miles. 
The cape must have been noticed at a very early time by 
navigators sailing along the coast. On very old maps, made 
in the first half of the sixteenth century, we find sometimes 
depicted in these latitudes of our coast a square-shaped piece 
of country corresponding with that south-eastern end of 
Nova Scotia, and we therefore conclude that Cape Sable was, 
in such cases, meant. Soon after the middle of the sixteenth 

*The numerous islands in Casco Bay, lying north-east of Cape Eliza- 
beth, give peculiar appropriateness to the Spanish name. — Ed. 



52 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 

century we have a Portucruese map, on which Cape Sable 
is immistakably indicated under its present name, which 
probably was given to it by the old Portuguese or French 
fishermen from the Great Banks. 

13. Islands. 

The islands along the coast of Maine are innumerable. 
All the bays and inlets arc full of them. In one bay (that 
of Casco) have been counted as many as there are days 
in the year. The islands are of all sizes, some quite large, 
others small and diminutive. Many being elevated, rocky, 
covered with tx'ees and meadows, serve much to diversify and 
embellish the aspect of the coast. They run in a nearly 
uninterrupted chain along the entire coast from Cape Eliza- 
beth in the west, to Quoddy Head in the east. Some 
of them, having pretty high mountains, serve as landmarks 
to navigators. For instance, the hills of Mount Desert, 
which are elevated to more than fifteen hundred feet, can be 
seen at sea from a great distance. Some of the small islands 
stand somewhat out from the coast, loiiely and lost in the 
midst of the ocean. The water between them is generally 
deep and favorable for navigation. There are not many 
hidden rocks and treacherous heads half covered by water. 

These rocky islands and islets form a most characteristic 
feature of the coast of Maine. And every early visitor 
appears to have been struck by them. They are mentioned 
in the first description of the coast by the French captain 
Verrazano, in the year 1524. They are also depicted in the 
first descriptive chart of Maine which we possess, that of the 
Spaniard Ribe'ro, made after the journals of the navigator 
Gomez. 

No other section of the entire coast of the United States 
is found, which, in respect to islands, headlands, indenta- 



THE COAST OF MAINE. 63 

tions, and particularly to the number of rocky islets, can 
be compared to the coast of Maine. On the south of Cape 
Cod, all the coasts of the Unitetl States, as far down as 
Florida, are low, sandy, uniform, and have, instead of islands, 
sandy long-stretched beaches, which, though they may be 
separated by water, are not easily recognized as islands. 

If, therefore, we see on an old chart of the United States 
a chain of coast-islets depicted in about our latitude, we have 
a right to presume that the coast of Maine was intended. 
Without those islands, the historian would often have great 
difficulty in determining the locality. 

14. Harrors, Bavs, and Inlets. 

The coast of Maine all along is full of excellent harbors, 
safe ports of refuge, and beautiful bays. The harbor of 
Portland, in the south-western part of the State, is one of 
the best of the entire Atlantic coast. From thence toward 
the north-east there exists, in fact, every mile or two, a 
roadstead or open inlet for a ship to run into ; whilst at the 
south of Cape Cod, along the greater part of the east coast of 
the United States, continuous sandy shores, like a rarely 
broken bulwark, stand against the shelter-seeking vessel ; 
deep harbors being an exception. Probably, therefore, the 
old Northmen from Iceland and Greenland, when they came 
down to the south to cut wood and barter furs for their 
northern countries, did not dislike these coasts. And like- 
wise the fishermen of the Great Banks, long before the 
settlement of the country, may have often resorted to them 
for shelter and refuge. 

The most striking and widest open bays on the coast are 
Penobscot and Passamaquoddy ; and they, in early times, 
may have been explored, entered, and used before the rest. 
We find them indicated on some very early maps, when no 



54 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 

Other bay whatever is indicated on them. That veiy re- 
markable Casco Bay, witli the liarbor of PortLand, may also 
sometimes be recoo-nized on old charts. 

15. Rivers. 

The territory of the State of Maine, forms a rough and 
hilly plane inclined toward the ocean from north to south. 
Its principal rivers, therefore, — the St. Croix, the Penobscot, 
the Kennebec, the Saco, — follow more or less this direction. 
None of them are very long, and being obstructed by many 
rapids and falls, even down to the neighborhood of the sea, 
are also not very far navigable. They, consequently, have 
not occasioned or facilitated discoveries into the interior, as 
the St. Lawrence, the Hudson, the Mississippi, etc., have 
done. 

The greatest exception to this is the Penobscot, by far the 
most important river of the State. It drains the entire 
central part of Maine. All its heads and tributaries are 
included in the territory of the State, and this territory may 
be considered as liavino; attached itself from all sides to this 
river system. The State of Maine might be called the 
Penobscot country, this river being its main artery. 

The Penobscot, at its mouth, forms the largest and most 
beautiful of all the numerous bays or inlets of the coast, and 
is very deep and navigable for the largest vessels about sixty 
miles from the ocean upward to the city of Bangor, where 
tides and vessels are stopped by rocks and falls. 

The widely 0[)en mouth attracted the attention of all the 
exploring navigators sailing along the coast, and it was visited 
by the Spaniards on their first exploring expedition to our 
regions. We see it depicted on the Spanish maps as the 
longest river of the whole region, and they gave to it names 
like the following: "Rio Grande" (the great river), or 



THE COAST OF MAINE. 55 

"Rio hermoso" (the beautiful river). And the principal of 
the early Spanish explorer of these regions, Gomez, left his 
name to this river, which, perhaps, he considered to be one of 
his most important discoveries. It was sometimes called 
"Rio de Gomez" (the river of Gomez). It was afterwards 
often visited by French navigators and fishermen from the 
Great Bank, and they appear to have built there, before the 
year 1555, a fort or settlement, which must have been the 
first European settlement ever made on the coast of Maine.* 
The Indians of Maine, also, thought highly of this river. 
Their principal chief, according to tlie well-known Captain 
John Smith, an early English describer of the coast of 
Maine, resided on its shores ; and even now, when every- 
where else in Maine the Indians have disappeared, the few 
remnants of them, the little Penobscot tribe, cling to the 
borders of this their old beloved principal canoe-trail. 

The Kennebec, in size and importance, is the second river 
of Maine. Its chief artery runs down from north to south 
like that of the Penobscot, and has a very similar develop- 
ment and course. It is navigable for sea-going vessels about 
fifty miles upward. But its mouth is hidden among many 
inlets and necks of land very similar to each other, and not 
as easily recognized as the widely open mouth of the Penob- 
scot. The Kennebec, in its lower section (called "Saga- 
dahoc"), was not found, therefore, till a later time, and 
came not much into notice during the sixteenth century. 

The same may be said of the Saco, and the Piscataquis, 
a wide and deep river, which at present forms the boundary 
between the States of Maine and New Hampshire. 

The St. Croix River, in the greater part of its course, 
separates the State of Maine from the province of New 

* See upon this chapter XI, paragraph 1, of this volume. 



56 ]VIAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 

Brunswick. It ends with a v idely open mouth, the Passa- 
maquoddy Bay, ah'eady mentioned. 

As nearly all these rivers, particularly the Penobscot and 
the St. Croix at their broad mouths, look so grand and prom- 
ising, they were thought, by early discoverers, to have been 
much larger than they really are, and as they had their heads 
in the vicinity of the river St. Lawrence, they sometimes 
were taken as branches or outlets of this river, and have 
been depicted as such on old maps. Nay, some old discov- 
erers and geographers had the idea that they were oceanic 
passages or channels from the Atlantic to the western sea, 
which they suspected to be very near to the west of Maine, 
as we shall have occasion to show more particularly here- 
after. 

This short review of the physical features of the coast of 
Maine contains, I believe, all that is wanted for the under- 
standing of the earliest history of its discovery. In a volume 
on the history of subsequent times, the subject should be 
taken up again more in detail. 



CHAPTER II. 

THE DISCOVERIES OF THE NORTHMEN IN NORTH-EASTERN 
AMERICA DURING THE MIDDLE AGE* 



1. IXTRODUCTOKT REMARKS. 

The irreat continents of our o-lobe run out toward the 
South Pole in two pointed peninsulas, separated from each 
other by broad deserts of water ; whilst on toward the North 
Pole the dry land becomes broader, and the ocean is cut up 
into several more or less contracted straits, gulfs, and arms of 
the ocean. 

The human race, spreading itself over the habitable surface 
of the globe, had, therefore, much more flicility in discov- 
ering and taking possession of one piece of country after 
anntlior in the north, than in the south. Between the north- 
east of Asia and the north-west of America remains but a 
narrow channel, "Behring Strait;" and here some have sup- 
posed the first discovery of the American continent by an 
Asiatic race must have taken place, and that America 
here received, by an immigration from the East, her first 
inhabitants. 

Between the north-east of America and the north-west of 
Europe the waters are much broader. But here several 

* Nearly all of what I state and relate in this chapter is taken — sometimes 
literally — from the excellent work, " Antiquitates Araericanae, Hafnise, 
(Copenhagen), 1837," written and collected by C. C. Eafn, except some 
general remarks, and the observations on the old history of the coast of 
Maine, which are my own. 



58 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 

peninsulas and islands are found, forming a chain of stations 
for the communication of the old and new world. 

From the West Indies, the line of the American east coast 
runs in a north-eastern direction ; and from the high north, 
the coast of arctic America and Labrador come down in a 
south-eastern course, forming a great peninsula, of which 
Newfoundland is the most eastern point, stretching far out 
toward Europe. 

Not very far from this north-eastern American peninsula, 
the southern part of the great island of Greenland presents 
itself; and, further on, Iceland, the Faroe, and the Shetland 
group, all sepai\ated from each other by sections of the ocean, 
which, under fovorable circumstances, even by small craft, 
may easily be passed in a few days' sailing. 

Scandinavia and Great Britain, also, stretch from the body 
of Europe, like colossal arms projecting into the ocean toward 
the north-west, approaching the above-mentioned parts of 
America and the islands between. 

The territory of the State of Maine, the particular object 
of our researches, forms a part of that largo north-eastern 
peninsula of America. It stands exactly where the Amer- 
ican east coast very decidedly takes a turn toward Europe ; 
and it may, therefore, have been affected, in a high degree, 
by all the migrations, voyages, discoveries, and conquests 
which, from the remotest times to our century of telegraphs 
and cables, have been the connecting links of commerce, 
navigation, and intercourse between the East and the West. 

Perhaps long before any annals were written, some people 
may have passed over from Europe along the stations of this 
great high road to America, and from America to Europe. 
The similarity in manners and race existing among the abo- 
rigines of the north of Europe (the Laplanders, Samoyedes, 
etc.) and those of the north of America (the Esquimaux) is 



MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 59 

not, perhaps, alone a consequence of climate and natural 
circumstances experienced by both races. The mounds and 
fortifications discovered in America, and the old instruments 
used by the nations, which, before our Indians of the present 
day, had taken possession of the country, are so similar to 
the objects of this kind found in Northern Europe, that this 
similarity can scarcely be otherwise explained than by a 
direct intercourse between the races. 

The Roman historians reported, at least in one case, of 
some strange people having come over from the West in a 
boat, and having appeared on some coast of Northern Europe. 
From what nation and country these strangers came, nobody 
knew ; perhaps they were fishermen driven by storm from 
the Shetlands or Faroe, or from distant " Thule," perhaps 
even Esquimaux from Greenland or Labrador. Several 
cases of the arrival of boats with strange people fi'om the 
west, in Scotland and other parts of Northern Europe have 
been mentioned.* During the innumerable centuries of the 
existence of the human race, such events may have happened 
many times. In the same manner, vessels from Europe may 
have been driven by storms to the west ;f and so population 
may have become dispersed from island to island, and from 
one continent to the other. 

The inliabitants of the western and northern parts of the 
British islands appear to be the first Europeans who have — 
at least by tradition — sustained a claim to the discovery of 
American countries in the West. It is said that Madoc, a 
prince of Wales, in the year 1170, had found islands in the 



* See upon this, Humboldt, Kritische tintersuchungen, vol. 1, pp. 470- 
476. Berlin, 1852. 

t An example of a European (French) fisher-boat, said to have been 
driven in early times (in the year 1501) from Europe to Canada, is quoted 
bj Humboldt, 1. c. p. 472. 



60 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 

far western parts of the ocean.* And then we have an old 
tradition cf Irishmen liavino; o-one to the west and found 
there a beautiful country in which they settled, lived for a 
long time, and left their progeny. But this myth is put into 
a more southern rejiion of America, — Florida and South 
Carolina ; the examination of its probability belongs to the 
mythological history of those States. f 

The fact, also, that we find the Irish before any European 
nation in Iceland, is more interesting for our subject. Irish 
Christians are the first Europeans which well-ascertained 
history shows us, were immigrants and inhabitants of this 
large island ; and if we consider, as some do, Iceland as 
being American ground, we ought to say that the Irish were 
the first well-proved discoverers of some part of America. 
At what time the Irish arrived in Iceland has not been ascer- 
tained. When the NorthuKMi arrived there in the year 860, 
they found some of these Irish there, designated in the Scan- 
dinavian Chronicles by the name of " Papas." 

2. Discovery of Iceland a^d Greenland. 

The Northmen, in the eighth and ninth centuries, had 
commenced a strong emigration from their own country ; 
they took possession of the Shetlands, the Faroe, and the 
islands of the northern part of Great Britain ; and had 
become the most powerful sea-faring nation on the ocean 
border of the north-west of Europe. They made conquests 
and gathered plunder in every direction. 

But, for us, the most interesting branch of their activity 
was that which conducted them to the north-east of America. 

*See upon this, William Owen, The C.imbrian Biograpliy, p. 233. 
London, 1803. 

t See on this, Hafn, Antiquitates Americans, p. 449. Hafniaj (Copen- 
hagen), 1837. 



MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY, Gl 

In tliis direction they found countries which were either 
uninhahited, or inhabited by barbarous tribes. The North- 
men here could not destroy so much as in civiHzed Europe, 
which they ravaged and plundered. But they created new 
settlements, and introduced European spirit and enterprise, 

Naddod, a Scandinavian, called the Sea-king, in the year 
860, and Gardar, a Dane, soon after, are said to have been 
the first Northmen who, driven by storms, came in sight of 
Iceland, and reconnoitered it. The good news which they 
brought home from it induced others to follow their track, 
and the Northman, Ingolf, in the year 874, was the first Avho 
settled there. He and his men found there the Christian 
Irishmen, the " Papas" or " Papar," whom they dispos- 
sessed and drove out, until none were left before the over- 
whelming invasion of these new-comers. 

The settlements of the Scandinavians in Iceland, and their 
expeditions to that country in the following years, increased 
in number ; and, hi the year 877, another north-east storm 
drove one of those Icelandic settlers, called Gunnbjorn, still 
further to the north-west, to Greenland, another unknown 
country, which he appears to have seen only at a distance. 
It was a long time before any other adventurer followed in 
his track. The Northmen had enough to do with their 
settlements in Iceland, and the "country of Gunnbjorn" 
(Greenland), existed for nearly a century only in tradi- 
tion, A rock between Iceland and Greenland has ever 
since retained his name, being called "Gunnbjorn's Skjar" 
(Gunnbjorn's rock). 

At last, in the spring of the year 986, Eric the Red 
sailed from Iceland Avith the intention of seeking for Gunn- 
bjorn's country. Having found it, he established a settle- 
ment, " Brattalid," in a bay which, after him, was called 
" Eric's Fiord," He found the country pleasant, full of 



62 MAINE HISTOKICAL SOCIETY. 

meadows, and of a milder climate than the more northern 
Iceland. He gave to it the name " Greenland," saying that 
this would be an inviting name, which miglit attract other 
people from Iceland to join his colony. Another adventurer, 
named Heriulf, soon followed him, and established himself 
near a southern promontory of Greenland, which after him 
was called " Heriulfsniis," situated not far from our present 
" Cape Farewell." 

8. First Discovery of New En-glais^d. 

The above-mentioned Heriulf had a son, Biarne, who, at 
the time his father went over from Iceland to Greenland, had 
been absent on a trading voyage in Norway. Returning to 
Iceland in 990, and finding that his father, with Eric the 
Red, had gone to the west, he resolved to follow lam and to 
spend the next winter with him in Greenland. 

They boldly set sail to the soutli-west, but having encoun- 
tered northerly storms, after many days' sail they lost their 
course, and when the weather cleared, they descried land, 
not, however, like that described to them as " Greenland." 
They saw that it was a much more southern land, and cov- 
ered with forests. It not beino; the intention of Biarne to 
explore new countries, but only to find the residence of his 
father in Greenland, he improved a south-west wind, and 
turned to the north-east, and put himself on the track for 
Greenland. After several days' sailing, during which he dis- 
covered and sailed by other well-wooded lands lying on his 
left, some high and mountainous, and bordered by icebergs^ 
he reached Heriulfsniis, the residence of his father, in Green- 
land. His return passage occupied nine days, and he speaks 
of three distinct tracts of land, along which he coasted, one 
of which he supposed to have been a large island. 

That Biarne, on this voyage, must have seen some part of 



MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 63 

the American east coast, is clear from liis liaving been driven 
that way from Iceland by northerly gales. We cannot deter- 
mine with any certainty Avhat part of our coast he sighted, 
and what was the southern extent of his cruise. But, taking 
into consideration all circumstances and statements of the 
report, it appears probable that it was part of the coast of 
New England, and perhaps Cape Cod, which stands far out 
to the east. One day and night's sailing with a favorable 
wind, was, in Iceland and Norway, reckoned to be about the 
distance of thirty German miles. Two days and " nights," 
therefore, would be sixty German miles, and this Is about the 
distance from Cape Cod In New England to Cape Sable in 
Nova Scotia.* 

The second country seen by Blarne would, then, probably 
have been Nova Scotia. The distance from Nova Scotia to 
Newfoundland Is about three days' sail ; and from New- 
foundland to the southern part of Greenland, a Northman 
navigator, with fresh breezes, might easily sail In four days, 
and thus Newfoundland was probably the third country dis- 
covered by Blarne. 

The results of the expedition of Blarne may be stated to 
have been these : He was the first European who saw, 
although from a distance and very cursorily, some parts of 
the coasts of New England, Nova Scotia, and Newfound- 
land. He also probably crossed the Gulf of Maine, without 
stopping, however, to explore its waters, or giving them 
names. 

4. Voyages of Leif, Erik's Son, and First Settlement 
IN New England. 

Blarne, of course, spoke to his father and to the Green- 
land colonists of all that had happened to him, and of the 

♦The German mile a little exceeds four English miles. — Ed. 



64 MAINE HISTOEICAL SOCIETY. 

large tracts of country he by chance had seen. Afterwards 
(probably in the year 994) when he returned to Norway, 
and spoke there also of his adventures, he was blamed by 
many for not having examined the new found countries more 
accurately. 

In Greenland, too, whither he soon returned, there was 
also much talk about undertaking a voyage of discovery to 
the south-west. Leif, the son of Erik the Red, the first set- 
tler in Greenland, having bought Biarne's ship in the year 
1000, equipped her with a crew of thirty-five men, among 
whom was Biai'ne himself, they went out on Biarne's track 
toward the south-west. They came first to that land which 
Biarne had seen last, which, as I have said, was probably our 
Newfoundland. Here they cast anchor and went on shore, 
for their voyage was not the search of a son after his father, 
but a decided exploring expedition. 

They found the country as Biarne had described it, full of 
ice-mountains, desolate, and its shores covered with large 
flat stones. Leif, therefore, called it "Helluland" (the 
stony land). 

After a brief delay they pursued their voyage, and found 
Biarne's second land, as he had described it, covered with 
woods, with a low coast and sjiores of white sand. Leif 
named it "Markland'' (the woodland), our present Nova 
Scotia. 

Continuing their course, in two days they again made 
land. Tliey found here a promontory projecting in a north- 
easterly direction from the main ; this pretty well corre- 
sponds 10 our present Cape Cod. It was the second time that 
a European vessel had sailed across the broad entrance of the 
Gulf of Maine, although at a great distance from the coast. 

Leif, rounding this ca})e to the west, sailed some distance 
westward, entered a bay or harbor, and went on shore. 



FIRST SETTLEMENT IN NEW ENGLAND. 65 

Finding the country very pleasant, they, concluding to spend 
tlie winter there, constructed some houses, and formed a 
settlement, whicli was called "Leifsbudir" (Leif's block- 
house, or dwelling). It is, with a great degree of probability, 
supposed that this took place on the south coast of the 
present State of Rhode Island, somewhere in Narraganset 
Bay, perhaps not far from our present Newport. 

Leif and his men from this point made several exploring 
expeditions to the intei'ior, to gain a better knowledge of the 
country. On one of those occasions a discovery was made, 
which appeared to them so extraordinary, that the name 
of this countrv was derived from it. Leif had amongst 
his followers a good-natured German, with the name of 
Tyrker, who had long resided with Leif's father in Iceland 
and Greenland, and of whom he had been very fond from 
his childhood. This German, on one of their exploring expe- 
ditions, lost his way and was missing. Leif, with some of his 
men, went out in search of him. But they had not gone far, 
when they saw him stepping out from a wood, holding some- 
thino; in his hands, and comino; toward them. Leif received 
him with great joy, but observed that his German was some- 
what irritated and unsettled in mind.* Upon being ques- 
tioned, Tyrker, in a kind of enthusiastic way, began to say 
something in the German language, which the Northmen did 
not understand.! ^^ 1^^^ l^® ^^i*^^ ^o them in true Norse, that 
he had not been a long way off, but still he had discovered 
something quite new. " I found vines and grapes ! *' he 
cried out ; showiiig- them what he held in his hands. " But 
is that true, my friend ? " asked Leif, who, j^robably, as an 
Icelander and Greenlander never had seen fresh grapes. 
And then Tyrker said, that he well might know that they 

*" Hau war ikke ret ved sin samling." Icelandic Report. 

t " Han dreieda ainene til forskellise sides og vraengrede munden." 



66 VOYAGES OF THORWALD TO NEW ENGLAND. 

were real grapes, having been born and educated in a coun- 
try in wliich there were plenty of vines. Tlie Northmen 
collected many grapes, filling with them their long-boat. 
This discovery was so extraordinary, that Leif gave to his 
new southern country the name of " Vinland " (the country 
of vines). This name was adopted by all his countrymen, 
and they afterward extended it to the whole coast stretching 
out to the north as far as what they called "Markland" 
(Nova Scotia). 

During the winter Leif and his men observed that the cli- 
mate of their Vinland was quite mild. They made also the 
observation, that the length of the days and nights in Vinland 
was mu'ch more equal than in Greenland throughout the 
year. On the shortest day in Vinland the sun was above the 
horizon from 7^ a. m. to 42 p. m. This astronomical obser- 
vation confirms the generally adopted view, that their settle- 
ment was made in the latitude of the southern part of New 
England. For the rest, they were occupied in felling trees 
and filling their vessel with wood, a product which, in Green- 
land and Iceland, was very welcome ; and in the spring 
they returned to Greenland. 

5. Voyages axd Discoveries or Thorwald, Erik's Sox, 
IX New Exgland. 

Leif's " Vinland voyage " became, among the colonists of 
Greenland, a subject of as much conversation and excitement, 
as in later times the discovery of Columbus at the courts of 
Spain and England. 

Leif's brother, Thorwald, was of opinion, that the new 
country had not been explored sufficiently. He, therefore, 
borrowed Leif's ship, and, aided by his brother's advice and 
direction, and by some of his men, commenced another 
voyage to this country in the year 1002. 



VOYAGES OF THORWALD TO NEW ENGLAND. 07 

He prol)al)ly sailed on the track of Bianie and Leif, along 
Newfoundland and Xova Scotia, and arrived in Vinland at 
"Leifsbudir" (in Narraganset Bay), wliere lie and his men 
spent the winter, employing themselves in fishing and cut- 
ting wood. In the spring of 1003, Thorwald sent a party in 
the ship's long-boat, on a voyage of discovery, the results of 
which were not very great, and have for vis not much inter- 
est, because the expedition went, probably, pretty far to the 
south, and did not return until the fall of the year. 

Thorwald himself, however, undertook, in the following 
year, lOOdt, another voyage, which has a higher interest for 
us, because it was directed to the north, and to the vicinity 
of Maine. 

Thorwald, accoi'ding to his report, sailed from Leifsbudir 
(in Narraganset Bay), in his large ship, at first eastward and 
then to the north, "• around the country." In doing this the 
keel of his ship was damaged in a storm, and he landed on a 
promontory, where he remained some time in repairing his 
vessel. After this, " he sailed round this spit of land, from 
the east to the west, into the nearest frith of the coast."' 
The descr^ption of this sail agrees very well with the configu- 
ration of Cape Cod and vicinity, which had been seen, but 
not named, on the former voyages of Biarne and Leif. 
Thorwald, this time, noticed the headland more minutely, 
and gave to it the name "Kialarnes" (Ship-nose). The 
outlines of Cape Cod make a figure which is much like the 
prow of a vessel, particularly of a Northman vessel. They 
had ships wutli a very high and pointed nose, like the head 
and neck of a dragon, and were therefore called " drao-ons." 
This circumstance may have influenced Thorwald to give 
this name to the cape, though it is said that the first occasion 
for the name was derived from, his repairing his vessel there. 
At all events, the name " Kialarnes," so ofteu mentioned in 



G8 VOYAGES OF THOEWALD TO NEW ENGLAND. 

the Scandinavian reports, kept its ground, because it was 
found so appropriate. The Scandinavian reports sometimes 
mention this cape under tlie simple name " Naeset," the 
nose^ probably because it was the principal and most pro- 
jecting headland of tlieir "Vinland." This remarkable 
headland, on account of the snowy whiteness of its sands, 
always attracts the attention of the passer-by.* As a promi- 
nent and important landmark it shows to the navigator his 
way on the dark ocean ; and so, in our researches through 
the dark ways of history, it will serve us as a guide when we 
find its uniipie figure put down on a chart by some explorer. 
Cape Cod may be called the very handle by which to grasp 
the hydrographical features of New England. 

Thorwald sailed from his "Ship-nose" toward the main 
land, where he came to anchor not far from a hilly promon- 
tory overgrown with wood, and was so much pleased with 
the place that he exclaimed, " Here it is beautiful, and here 
I should like to fix my abode." He met there nine men of 
the aborigines ; " eight of them they killed, but the ninth 
escaped in his canoe." Some time after, there arrived a 
countless number of " Skrellino-s" — as the Scandinavians 
called the aborigines, as well of Greenland as of Vinland, — 
and a battle ensued. It was the first battle and blood- 
shed between Europeans and the indigenous Americans, of 
which we have any account. The "Skrellings" continued 
shooting at Thorwald aiul his men some time, and then 
quickly retired. After the victory, Thorwald asked his men, 
whether one of them had been wounded. Upon their deny- 
ing this, he said, " I am ! I have an arrow under my arm, 
and this will be my death-blow. I now advise you to pre- 
pare for your departure as soon as possible. But me you 
must take to that promontory where I thought to have made 

* See upon this, Rafii, Antiiiuitates Aniericanae, pp. 420, 427. 



VOYAGES OF THOKWALD TO NEW ENGLAND. 69 

my abode. I was a prophet. For I now shall dwell there 
forever. There you shall bury me, and plant there two 
crosses, one at my head and one at my feet, and call the 
place 'Krossana3s' (the promontory of the crosses), for all 
time coming." Thorwald, upon this, died, and his men did 
as he had ordered them. 

The place where they buried him and erected the crosses, 
must have been one of the headlands not far south of the 
coast of Maine. It is supposed that it was near the harbor 
of Boston, and that this first battle between Europeans and 
American aborigines Avas fought on the same ground where, 
in modern time, were fought the first battles of the American 
colonists with the British troops. The cape, " KrossanaBs," 
having a somewhat hidden position, is not often mentioned 
in the Scandinavian reports. 

Thorwald's men returned to their companions at the settle- 
ment of Leifsbudir (Narragauset Bay), and spent with them 
the following winter. But in the spring of 1005, having 
collected a cargo of Avood, furs, and grapes (probably in a 
dried state), they sailed again to Greenland, having im- 
portant and sad intelligence to communicate to Leif, Erik's 
son. 

The results of Thorwald's exploring expedition, for our 
object, may be summed up in a few words. Thorwald and 
his men staid on the coasts of New England nearly two 
entire years, principally occu])ied with explorations. They 
sailed along the south coast of New England toward, and 
perhaps beyond. New York. They recognized and described 
more minutely the important headland of Cape Cod, and gave 
to it the appropriate and often mentioned name, " Kialarnes" 
(Ship-nose). They intended to make an expedition along 
the coast of New England toward the north, visiting the 



70 THORFIXX'S VOYAGE TO VINLAXD. 

shores of Maine, but did not come in this direction much 
further tlian the liarbor of Boston, where their commander, 
Thorwald, was killed. 

6. Unsuccessful AxTEisrPT of Tiiousteix, Erik's Son, to 

KEACH " ViNLAND " AGAIN. 

Tliorstein, Erik's third son, now resolved to proceed to 
Vinland to obtain his. brother's body. He fitted out the same 
ship in which his brother had sailed, and selected twenty-five 
strong and able men for its crew. His wife, Gudrida, a 
woman of energy and prudence, accompanied him. But 
they encountered contrary winds, and were tossed about on 
the ocean during the whole summer, and knew not whither 
they were driven. At the close of the first week of winter, 
they landed at one of the w^estern settlements of Greenland, 
where a sickness broke out amongst them, of which Tliorstein 
and many others died. In the following spring, his widow, 
Gudrida, returned to Ericksfiord, on the southern coast of 
Greenland. 

7. The Voyage of Tiiokfinn Kaelsefne to "Vinland," 

AND A New Settlement there effected by him. 

In the following summer of the year 1006, two ships arrived 
in Greenland from Iceland, — one commanded by Thorfinn and 
Snorre Thorbrandsen, the other by Biarne, Grimolf's son, 
and Thorhall. 

ThorHnn was a wealthy and powerful man, of illustrious 
lineage. He had the sirname Karlsefne (^.t'. one who is 
destined to be a great man). He fell in love with Gudrida, 
Thorstein's widow, and their marriage Avas celebrated during 
the winter. On this, as on former occasions, Vinland formed 
a favorite theme of conversation. Gvidrida probably spoke to 
her new husband about the project of her former husband, 



THORFINN'S VOYAGE TO VINLAND. 71 

Thorstein, of a voyage to tlic south. Thorfinn, urged hj his 
wife and by others, resolved to undertake such a voyage. 

In the summer of 1007, Thorfinn prepared three ships, — 
one commanded by himself, another by Biarne, Grimolf's 
son, and Thorhall ; the third by Thorwald, who had married 
Freydisa, a natural daughter of Erik the Red. They had in 
all one hundred and sixty men, and, it being their intention 
to establish a colony there, took with them all kinds of live- 
stock. 

They sailed from Greenland in the spring of 1008, on a 
southerly course to Helluland, and from thence two days 
further in a southerly direction to Markland. 

From "Markland" (Nova Scotia) they did not go out to 
the open sea through the broad part of the Gulf of Maine, as 
had been done on the former expeditions ; but they coasted 
along a great way " to the south-west, having the land always 
on their starboard," until they at length came to Kialarnes 
(Cape Cod).* 

Thorfinn and Gudrida, in following this track, probably 
wished to find the place where Thorwald had been buried, 
and his crosses erected, which they of course knew were to 
be found on the coast toward the north of Cape Cod. They, 
no doubt, had some of Thorwald's former companions on 
board. 

It appears from this, that we have here the first coasting 
voyage of European navigators along the shores of Maine. 
It was a numerous company of one hundred and sixty men 
in three vessels, who, in that year, had their eyes upon our 
coast in search of the cross of Thorwald, all of them strong, 
stout, and heroic fellows. Unhappily, their reports contain 
no further details of the coast. 

* Fra Markland seilede de laenge sonderpaa langs med Landet, og kom 
til at Naeset. Laudet laae paa skibets lioire side. 



il THORFINN'S VOYAGE TO VINLAND. 

They came at last to Cape Cod, and were struck at this 
time by "long sandy beaches and downs," and named the 
strand " Furdustrandr," which may be translated " beaches 
of wonderful length," — our present "Nauset" and "Chatham 
Beach." 

In rounding the beaches toward the west, they saw several 
inlets, islands, and tongues of land, and met at several places 
strong currents. On one of the islands an immense number 
of eider-ducks was found, so that it was scarcely possible to 
walk there without treading on their eggs. They called this 
island " Straumey" (the island of currents), and to a frith 
they gave the name of " Straumfiordr" (the frith of the cur- 
rents). It is well known that the Gulf-stream in this region 
comes ver}^ near to the Nantucket Shoals, and causes amongst 
them and the neio-hborinL!; islands very irregular currents. 

They landed in the "frith of the currents," supposed to be 
our Buzzard's Bay, and made preparations for a winter resi- 
dence. But Thorhall the Hunter, a man whom Thorfinn 
had carried out with him, left there for the north on discovery, 
and then Thorfinn himself, with the great body of his men, 
sailed westward, and entered the same large and beautiful 
bay, on the borders of which Leif had built his " Leifsbudir." 
Not far from this spot, on the other side of the water, at a 
place which pleased him better, Thorfinn now erected his own 
larger esta])lishment, named " Thorfinn's budir." It stood 
near a small recess or bay, by the Scandinavians called " Hop" 
(corner). On the low grounds around this "Hop," they 
found fields of wheat orowino- wild, and on the rising- oTounds 
plenty of vines. 

There, in a beautiful country, they spent the following 
winter. No snow fell, and the cattle found their food in the 
o])eu fields, as it may be to-day, in the exceptionally mild 
climate of Rhode Island. Sometimes the aborigines (Skrel- 



THORFINN'S VOYAGP: TO VINLAND. 73 

lino;s) would assemble around them in o^reat niunhcr. Tlior- 
Hnn and his men hartei'ed with them for tlicir M|iiin('l-skins 
and other furs. The SkrclHiins liked \-ery mucli llie red clnlji 
offered by the foreie-ners, and gave vahiahle fui's for a small 
piece of red cloth not broader than a finger's breadth, binding 
it round their heads likt; a crown. Tliorfinn, also, caused his 
women t(j bring out milk-soup, the taste of which the Skrel- 
lings greatly relished. They greedily purchased, ate it, and 
in this manner " carried away their bargains in their bellies," 
says the old Icelandic chronicler. In I'act, this w hoh; ti'alHc 
of the Northmen with their " Skrellings" was caiTied on in 
much the same manner in which the later Europeans used to 
barter with the poor Indians ; with this difi'ei-ence only, that 
in modern times they gave them brandy insteafl of milk. 

Tlioi'finn prohibited his men from selling their swords and 
spears to the Skrelliiigs, a jn-ohibition which was afterwards 
often repeated by European connnanders. 

One day, whilst traffic was going on in tin; likt; manner, a 
bull, which Tliorfinn had brought with him, iHished out from 
the woods and bellowed loudly. At this the Skrellings were 
extremely terrified, and quickly disap|>eared in the same 
manner in which, at a later date, the Peruvian Indians, at 
the court of Atabalipa, were frightened by tlu; neighing of 
' Spanish horses. 

But it is not my intention to s|)ecify all that ha]j[)eued to 
Thorfiiui and his men in their s(juth(!rn abode, because the 
details of these events appear to belong to the antiipiities of 
the State of Rhode Island. I have oidy made an exception 
with respect to the matters just stated, as they are character- 
istic of American history in general, and as they serve to 
confirm the truthfulness of our Scandinavian reports, and 
foreshadow, as it were, in a clear mirror, many American 
customs and occurrences afterwards often repeated. 



74- THORFINN'S VOYAGE TO VINLAND. 

I will oiily add this, that Gudrida, the heroic wife of Thor- 
finn, gave hirth, on the shores of Narragajiset Bay, to a son, 
who received the name of " Snorre," and who may be con- 
sidered as the first American-born child of European parents. 

We will now turn our attention again to the north, and 
see what was done by Thorfinn for the exploration of the 
northern parts of Vinland. 

Thorfinn had sent to the north from Straumfiordr (Buz- 
zard's Bay) his man, Thorhall the Hunter. " This Thorhall 
was a strong and stout person, black, very taciturn, and was 
familiar with the desert places of Greenland and the whole 
north." Being fond of exploring unknown parts, he, with 
eight men, had left Thorfinn's party soon after their arrival 
at the south coast of New England, because he wished to 
explore the northern parts of Vinland. He sailed along 
" Furdustrandr " (Nauset) and " Kialarnes " (Cape Cod), 
and turned to the west into the interior parts of the Gulf of 
Maine. But there he was caught by a strong west wind, 
probably one of the wild north-west storms, which, coming 
down from the mountains of New Hampshire and Maine, 
sometimes happen in this bay, and still are much dreaded by 
the coasters. By this storm Thorhall was driven out into 
the broad ocean, and by other westerly gales was carried 
so far away, that at last he knew no better refuge than 
Ireland,* where he landed, and where, according to the 
account of some merchants, he and his men were made 
slaves. 

Thus Thorhall's attempt to explore the northern parts of 
Vinland (coast of Maine) in 1008, was as perfect a failure 



*I may add the remark, that, in a similar manner, at the end of the six- 
teenth century, tlie well-known French discoverei', La Roche, was caught 
by a western jjale on the shore of Nova Scotia, which drove him off the 
coast, and chased him back toward France. 



THORFINN'S VOYAGE TO VINLAND. 75 

as the voyage of Tliorwald to the same region some years 
before. 

Meanwhile Thorfinn's circumstances had changed. His 
estabhshment at "Hop" (Narraganset Bay) liad been 
attacked by numberless hostile Skrellings. Blood had been 
shed again, and the fights had not been victories for the 
Scandinavians. Thorfinn thought that, though the country 
offered many advantages, .still the life they would have to 
lead here might be one of constant alarm. He made prepa- 
rations, therefore, to return to Greenland. But before 
doing this, he wanted to see his man, Thorhall the Hunter, 
who had not returned from his excursion to the northern 
parts of Vinland. He, therefore, in one of his ships, left 
" Hop," sailed eastward, leaving the greater body of his 
companions at his station on the coasts of " Straumfiordr 
(Buzzard's Bay), and made a searching expedition to the 
north on the track and in quest of Thorhall. He sailed to 
the north along "Kialarnes " (Cape Cod), and then to the 
west, " having the country on his left side." " He found 
there endless forests so far as he could see, with scarcely any 
open place." He discovered, also, a river, in the mouth of 
which he, for some time, rode at anchor. 

Here, at this anchoring place, it happened that they one 
day saw a " Onefoot,"* who, being hidden behind some 
trees, killed with an arrow one of Thorfinn's men, and then 
ran off to the north. After this unhappy event, Thorfinn 
continued his voyage to the north. But finding no trace of 
his friend Thorhall, and thinking that they now had come to 
the country of the "Onefoots,"f he did not like to expose 
his men to further dangers, and returned to the south. " He 
and his men, however, agreed on this point, that all these 

* " En Eenfoding " (Uuipes "). 

t " Eenfodingeland " ( " terra Unipedum "). 



76 THOEFINN'S VOYACxE TO VINLAND. 

tracts to the north were continuous witli those in the south 
at Hop, and that it was all one and the same country." 

The "endless forests" Avhicli Thorfinn saw in the north, 
the river-mouth where he anchored, and where he saw the 
"Onefoot," might have been somewhere in the inner parts of 
the Gulf of Maine, on the coasts of the present States of 
Massachusetts, New Hampshire, or Maine. How far, on 
this excursion, he went to the north, we cannot say. But, 
as he believed that he had now come to the dangerous 
" country of the Onefoots," we may put down this as one of 
the names under which our coasts of New Hampshire and 
Maine may have been designated by the Northmen. 

The reports of the Northmen of their voyages are not near 
so full of fabulous and mythological phantasms and errors, 
marvellous and superhuman events and beings, as those of 
the Spaniards and other more southern nations. They are, 
on the contrary, remarkable for their straight-forward, unos- 
tentatious simplicity and matter of fact clearness. But there 
are a few exceptions. Sometimes they report, that the 
" Skrellings," in the midst of a battle or on their flight, sud- 
denly disappeared, "being swallowed by the earth," and 
similar incredible things. The "country of the Onefoots" 
may also be called one of these exceptions. The Northmen 
believed in the existence of such a nation and country, as 
the S])aniards believed in the existence of the Amazons. 
They believed they had discovered the country of the One- 
foots at several times,* and so Thorfinn thought he had 
found it here in the north of Vinland (New Hampshire 
and Maine). 

Thorfinn, not having found his man Thorhall, returned to 
his companions whom he had left on the coast of Straumfiordr 
(Buzzard's Bay). He there staid with them till the next 

* See Rafn, 1. c. p. 158. 



THOEFINN'S VOYAGE TO VINLAND. 77 

winter. It was his third winter in Vinland, bnt not a favor- 
able one to the continuation of the enterprise. Discontent 
and dissension broke out among the settlers, the causes of 
which I may leave here undiscussed. Thorfinn, therefore, 
in the following spring, 1011, with his wife, Gudrida, and 
his American son, Snorre, then three years of age, left the 
country together, and with a good southerly wind returned 
to Greenland. It is not quite clear, but it a])pears to me 
probable, that a party of his men remained behind and con- 
tinued the settlement in Vinland. The reports ai'e some- 
what contradictory on this point. Thorfinn, also, carried 
with him two boys, aborigines of jNIarkland, to whom the 
Northmen afterward taught the Norse language, and who 
then gave them some particulars about the interior of their 
country, and about the manners and kind of living of their 
countrymen. The old Northmen, in this respect, followed 
the practice, which, in later times, was adopted by many 
discoverers. 

Thorfinn never returned again to Vinland. He had 
brouglit from thence many valuable things collected in the 
country, and diu'ing his traffic with the aborigines, — furs and 
skins of different animals, specimens of rare wood of seve- 
ral sorts, and probably other products not specified in the 
reports. 

When he arrived with this cargo in Greenland (at the end 
of the 3-ear 1011), two brothers of the name of Helge and 
Finnboge had come out from Norway. They were probably 
attracted by the rich plunder of Thorfinn, and, persuaded 
by some of his companions, resolved to make a voyage to 
Vinland, which now began to be named "Vinland the good" 
(Vinland det goda). They associated for this purpose with 
that enterprising woman, Freydisa, who had been out with 
Thorfinn, and who knew and hked "the good Vinland." 



(» THORFINN'S VOYAGE TO VINLAND. 

They made witli her a bargain, that they wovikl share with 
her equally in all the profits this voyage might yield. They 
sailed in the year 1012 to Vinland. The particulars of 
their voyage have no great interest for us, because it 
does not appear that they touched, in any way, the north- 
ern parts of Vinland. Freydisa and her companions got 
into trouble and disagreement, probably about the "profits 
of the undertaking." They came to arms, and the two 
brothers, Helge and Finnboge, were slain in a fight. Frey- 
disa and her companions soon after returned to Greenland, 
very probably with a good booty of furs, etc. They arrived 
in Greenland in the spring of 1013, where Thorfinn then lay, 
ready to sail with his cargo for Norway. (All commercial 
operations appear to have been very slow in old Greenland.) 
It is very probable, though it is not exactly stated, that Frey- 
disa sold a part of her stock to Thorfinn, to take to the Euro- 
pean market. At all events, " Thorfinn's ship was so richly 
laden, that it was generally admitted a more valnable cargo 
never before left Greenland." 

Thorfinn sailed to Norway, staid there the next winter, 
and sold his American products.* He appears to have 
made by them a good profit. Amongst others, a " Southern 
man," a German merchant of the city of Bremen, in Saxo- 
nia, who happened to be present in Norway, oftered to 
Thorfinn, for a piece of American Avood, half a mark of 
gold. Thorfiim was astonished at this high price being 
ofiered to him by that " Southerner," but gave his wood 
for it. "He did not know that it was 'Mosur' he had 
brought out from Vinland. ''| This "Mosur," or "Mausur" 
was a kind of Avood tlien considered to be so precious, that 



* Pwifn, 1. c. p. 73. 
t Itiifn, 1. c. p. 74. 



VIXLAND KNOWN TO EUIIOPEANS. 79 

kings sometimes had goblets made of it, trimmed with silver 
and gold.* 

Thorfinn, probably with a full purse, sailed as before, 
accompanied by his wife Gudrida and his sou Snorre, in 
the spring of 1014, from Norway to Iceland, where he 
bought an estate, and where he now settled and resided for 
the remainder of his life, with Snorre, his son. After the 
death of Thorfinn, and after Snorre had been married, 
Gudrida, the widow-mother, made a pious pilgrimage to 
Rome, where, probably, as an extraordinary person, she was 
received with distinction, and where, of course, she spoke to 
the pope or his bishops about the beautiful new country in 
the far West, " Vinland the good," and about the Christian 
settlements made there by the Scandinavians. She after- 
wards returned to her son's estate in Iceland, where Snorre 
had built a church, and where, after all her adventures, she 
lived long as a religious recluse. 

From Thorfinn and his son, Snorre, a numerous and illus- 
trious race descended, among whom may be mentioned the 
learned bishop Thorlak Runolfson, born in the year 1085, of 
whom it has been made probable, that he was the person who 
originally compiled the accounts of the voyages of his great 
grandfiither. 

The results which these early exploring, searching, and 
trading voyages of Thorfinn and Gudrida have for our sub- 
ject, may, in short, be summed up thus : 

The coast of Maine, in the year 1008, was, for the first 
time, coasted along by European ships from north to south. 

Thorhall the Hunter, in the year 1008, made his exploring 

*The American "Mosur" is said to have come from a kind of maple 
tree, called in New England tbe " birdseye, or curled maple." See ui)on 
this, Eafn, 1. c. p. 4i2 seq. 



80 VINLAND KNOWN TO EtTEOPEANS. 

expedition from Straiinifiordr (Blizzard's Bay) to the north- 
ern parts of VinUmd (coast of Maine), but was beaten back 
by a heavy iwrth-western gale. 

Thorfinn, in tlie year 1009, made a searching expedition in 
quest of his man Thorliall, to the northern parts of VinLand, 
but appears not to have gone far north, for fear of the Skrel- 
hngs, whom he thought to be monstrous " Onefoots." He 
gave tlieir name to the country, which probably included 
New Hampshire and part of Maine, and which he believed 
to be continuous with the south of Vinland. 

Thorfinn, during his stay of more than three years in Vin- 
land, had collected furs, skins, precious woods, and other 
American })roducts. He brought them over to Europe 
(Norway), and sold them at a good price. Thus were New 
England and its products made known in Europe. 

These discoveries were also undoubtedly made known by 
mariners from Germany, Ireland, and Scotland, and by other 
adventurers, on their return to their native countries. The 
Northmen themselves would not be slow in spreading the 
fame of their bold expeditions and the wonderful discov- 
eries they had made. 

Tliat in Denmark and the northern part of Germany, 
very soon after the expeditions of Thorfinn, the " Vinland" 
of the Northmen became known, is proved by the testimony 
of a famous contemporary historian of the North. The 
bishopric of Bremen, founded by Charles the Great, com- 
prised within its ecclesiastical jurisdiction and diocese, for a 
long time, the whole north of Europe, — Denmark, Scandi- 
navia, Iceland, and Greenland. The town where this bisho]) 
resided (Bremen), therefore, was sometimes called the Rome 
of the North ; and the earliest historian of this bishopric, 
Adam of Bremen, in his celebrated and important work, 
" Ecclesiastical history of the north of Europe,"' paid great 



VINLAND KNOWN TO EUROPEANS 81 

attention to the political, military, and commercial events of 
the Northmen. He Avrote this work about fifty years after 
Thorfinn's return from Vinland, and, having himself traveled 
a good deal in Denmark, he added to it " a description of 
Denmark and of the regions beyond Denmark," and in 
chapter thirty-nine of this description, he says that Sueno, 
the King of Denmark, to whom he paid a visit, and with 
whom he had a conversation on the northern countries, men- 
tioned to him, among many other islands which had been 
discovered in the north-west, " one which they had called 
Vinland, because the vine would grow there without cultiva- 
tion, and because it produced the best sort of wine. That 
besides, plenty of fruits grow in this country without planting, 
is not mere opinion, but I have this news from very authen- 
tic and trustworthy relations of the Danes. Beyond this 
island, however, no habitable country is found ; on the con- 
trary, everything to the north is covered with ice and eternal 
night." 

Adam of Bremen's work was written soon after the middle 
of the eleventh century, issued in the year 1073, dispersed in 
several copies, and probably read by many learned persons. 
So we may say, that, even at this time, a discovery of 
America was proclaimed, and a short description of New 
England given to the reading public of Europe. 

Besides this Adam of Bremen, there was another contem- 
porary historian, Ordericus Vitalis, born in England, and. 
afterwards bishop of Rouen in Normandy, who appears to 
have known something of Vinland, and to have mentioned it 
in his ecclesiastical history, which was written about one 
hundred years after Thorfinn's exploring expeditions.* 

* See about this, Rafu, Antiquitates Americanse, p. 337. 
6 



82 EXPEDITIONS TO VINLAND AFTER THOEFINlSr. 



8. Expeditions from Greenland and Iceland to Vinland 

SUBSEQUENT TO THOSE OF ThORFINN KaRLSEFNE. 

After Thorfinn Karlsefne's expeditions, the Northmen from 
Iceland and Greenland appear to have gone several times to 
the shores of America. Some of them were driven by storms 
to more southern parts of the continent. Others made ex- 
ploring expeditions toward the arctic regions, to the northern 
parts of Baffin's Bay. The history of these voyages, under- 
taken to regions very distant from our territory of jNIaine, has 
no immediate interest for us. 

But the Vinland expeditions did not cease, though we 
have only scanty information and a few scattered reports on 
all that happened in Vinland after Thorfinn Karlsefne. The 
first discovery of this beautiful country, praised so much for 
its mild climate and fertility, and usually by the Icelandic his- 
torians called the good country, must, at the beginning, have 
struck the Northmen with great surprise : their historians, 
consequently, reported amply and fully on this memorable 
event. The three sons of Erik the Red, Thorfinn and his 
heroic wife, Gudrida, being distinguished by birth and social 
position, and some of them the heads of a large progeny, 
their descendants took pride and pleasure in describing and 
recording the exploits and adventures of their ancestors. 

After Thorwald and Thorfinn, a voyage to Vinland may 
not have been considered as very remarkable. The way to 
it was found, and became, as it were, a beaten track, easy 
for everybody. The voyages to this country were no extra- 
ordinary exploring expeditions to a new region, but only 
commercial undertakings, probably to gather furs, Avood, and 
other commodities for Greenland. They, therefore, were 
not chronicled and amply described. But sometimes we find 
them occasionally mentioned. 



EXPEDITIONS TO VINLAND AFTER THOEFINX. 83 

So in the year 1121, the voyage to Vinland of a bishop of 
Greenland, by the name of Erik, is mentioned in the Ice- 
landic annals. This priest is said to have sailed to Vinland 
for missionary purposes. The fact, that such a high ecclesi- 
astical functionary as a bishop should go to Vinland, appears 
to be good proof, that, since Thorfinn's time, Northman set- 
tlers had remained there, or, at least, that Northman traders, 
engaged in trafficking, fishing, and wood-cutting had tarried 
there, and that a constant intercourse with the colony had 
been maintained. The beauty of the country, so often 
praised by the Icelanders, and the profits which they had 
derived from some of their Vinland expeditions, must have 
been a ereat inducement to the colonists and traders to retain 
possession of the country, and not readily abandon it. Of 
the results of Bishop Erik's expedition we, unhappily, have 
no particular information. 

After this remarkable voyage of the bishop we hear 
nothing of Vinland for more than a hundred years, nor of 
countries to the south-west of Greenland. Then we have 
again a brief notice, that, in the year 1285, two Icelandic 
clergymen, Aldabrand and Thorwald Helgason, who are 
often mentioned in Northern history, visited, on the Avest of 
Iceland, " a new land," and that some years afterwards, the 
king of Denmark, Erik the Priest-hater, sent out a ship under 
the command of a certain Rolf, to pay a visit to this " New- 
land," which is supposed to have been our Newfoundland. 

Again, not quite a hundred years after this event, we find, 
in the ancient Icelandic Annals, the following very remarka- 
ble, though short report : " In the year 1347 a vessel, having 
a crew of seventeen men, sailed from Iceland to Markland." 
The dry and brief manner in which this is reported, seems 
to prove that this vessel of 1347 was not driven to " Mark- 
land" (Nova Scotia) by chance or by storms, but that the 



84 EXPEDITIONS TO VINLAND AFTER THORFINN. 

expedition was intentional, undertaken probably for the pur- 
pose of getting timber and other supplies from that country. 
The whole affair is mentioned as a daily occurrence, and 
"Markland" as a perfectly well-known country. On the 
voyage homeward from Markland, the vessel was driven out 
of her course by storms, and arrived with loss of anchors on 
the west of Iceland. From such an account it would appear, 
that the intercourse between Iceland, Greenland, and Vin- 
■ land had been kept up to as late a date as the middle of the 
fourteenth century. 

We have very scanty information on the trading and fishing 
expeditions of the English, Portuguese, and French to the 
coast of Newfoundland diu-ing the sixteenth century, and they 
are only occasionally alluded to, though there is no doubt 
that they yearly occurred. We are much better informed of 
the expeditions of the Cabots, Cortereals, and Verrazano, 
which preceded those fishing voyages, and showed them the 
way. A comparison of the case of these fishermen Avith that 
of the Northmen will serve to make the views and supposi- 
tions above developed still more probable. 

We cannot prove that in all this time the coast of Maine 
was seen again by the Northmen. But that this was the case, 
is not improbable from what has been said. The name of 
Markland (the country of the woods), in the northern geog- 
raphy, may have sometimes comprised the coast of Maine ; 
which, at a later time, was often included in the same geo- 
graphical denomination with Nova Scotia. 

From the middle of the fourteenth century down to the 
modern discovery of America, beginning with Columbus and 
Cabot, we hear no more of Scandinavian undertakings in this 
direction. The heroic age of the Northmen, and their power 
and spirit of enterprise, had long ago passed by. Iceland, the 



VINLAND THOUGHT A PART OF EUROPE. 85 

starting-point and mother republic of the western colonies, 
had become a subordinate and neglected dependency of the 
kings of Norway and Denmark. The Greenland settlements 
and bishopric by degrees had been weakened, and at last 
had completely disappeared, in consequence, as is believed, 
of epidemics, and of attacks from the Esquimaux, who came 
over in great numbers from Labrador ; so that even their 
neighbors of Iceland lost sight of this country. In this 
manner the entire connecting chain between Scandinavia, 
Iceland, Greenland, and Vinland was broken, and the Amer- 
ican portion remained to be discovered anew. 

9. New England considered by the Northmen to be a 
PART OF Europe. 

The heroic exploits and great vmdertakings of the North- 
men in Iceland and Greenland, called into existence among 
them many enthusiastic and talented literary and scientific 
men, who strove to praise and to describe their exploits in 
writing. Iceland had, in the thirteenth and fourteenth cen- 
turies, her poets, historians, and geographers. With them, 
who had discovered and conquered a great part of the globe, 
geography, in fact, must have been a favorite occupation ; as 
it had been, for similar reasons, with the Arabs. 

The Icelandic geographers described not only their own 
home, but gave also descriptions of the entire globe, so far as 
their knowledge had reached. They also depicted the globe 
on rough maps, and had their own systems and views on the 
arrangement and connection of the different great parts of the 
world. 

The feature of this Icelandic geography, which interests 
us here most, is their idea on the question, what position on 
the globe should be ascribed to their discoveries in Green- 
land, Markland, Helluland, and Vinland. They appear not 



86 YINLAND THOUGHT A PART OF EUROPE. 

to have had the conviction, that they had arrived on another 
continent, in a "new workl" ; which, after the hater discovery 
of America by Cohimbus and others, became soon the con- 
viction of modern geographers. 

The Icelanders, on the contrary, thought that all these 
western countries made a ^jart of Europe, and they affirmed 
this very clearly in their geographical works. And this 
conception, strange as it may appear to us at first sight, 
was quite natural from the stand-point of the Northman 
geographers in Iceland. Their original home, Norway, 
stretched far out to the north. Beyond this, toward the 
north-east, they had seen other European countries, — the 
northern parts of Russia (Biarmia, Novaja Zemlia). Per- 
haps on their excursions they had even come in sight of the 
mountains of Spitzbergen. So they saw, in all directions 
toward the north-east and the north, countries which they 
thought to be continental with each other as well as with 
Europe. To the north-west they found Greenland, which 
they considered to be a continuation of this chain of north- 
ern European countries. On many old Scandinavian maps, 
therefore, we see Greenland depicted as a large penin- 
sula running out from some part of Russia, and encii'cling, 
with a large bend, the whole northern half of the Atlantic, 
and with its southern end (Cape Farewell) coming down to 
more southern latitudes. It is Avell known that Spitzbergen, 
at a later date, was considered to be a part of Greenland, and 
was even called " Greenland" or " Eastern Greenland." So 
by this gigantic " Greenland," a bridge was constructed 
from Europe to the other countries discovered in the western 
world. 

The conception, that these southern countries, Helluland, 
Markland, Vinland, with Greenland, Iceland, Norwegia, be- 
longed to the same tract or circle of North-European coun- 



VINLAND THOUGHT A PART OF EUROPE. 87 

tries, was so much more natural, because all these countries, 
so far south as the coast of Maine, in their nature and con- 
figuration, have the greatest similarity. Indented, rocky- 
coasts, with the same geological features (granite rocks), 
long inlets, fiords, numerous coast islands, were to be found 
everywhere, as in Norway and Iceland. The products of 
these tracts, also, were not strikingly different from those in 
Northern Europe, — firs, oaks, and other European trees in 
the forests ; salmon and other fish in the rivers ; and on the 
coast different sorts of cod-fish and whales, as on the coast 
of Norway. Nay, had not the German, Tyrker, discovered 
vines and grapes like those in Germany? The Scandina- 
vians might, therefore, well think that they had found noth- 
ing very new, but. only the extension and continuation of 
their own Norwegian home. 

Columbus and his followers, when, at a later date, they 
arrived in the West Indies, within the tropics, became soon 
aware that they had something new before them. Having 
their imagination full of oriental notions, they saw in Amer- 
ica even more new things, differences, and peculiarities, than 
really existed. 

It would be easy to show and prove by many quotations 
from the books of modern travelers, that those who came 
from Great Britain, or other parts of Northern Europe, were 
not much surprised by the differing features of the north- 
eastern parts of the new world ; but, on the contrary, were 
impressed by their similarity to what they had left. We 
might, indeed, speak of a Scandinavian America, which 
would extend as far south as New England, and more par- 
ticularly the State of Maine. 

From all this we may easily explain the alleged fact, that 
the old Icelandic geographers knew nothing of a fourth part 
of the world ; that, like the Greek Ptolemy, they recog- 



88 THE NORTHMEN AMONG THE INDIANS. 

nized only three continents, and ascribed all their discove- 
ries on the other side of the ocean to Europe. 

An Icelandic geographer, in giving a description of the 
globe, thus expresses himself: " From Biarmaland (North- 
ern Russia), the land goes out toward the north to unin- 
habited deserts (Nova Zembla, Spitzbergen), until Greenland 
commences. From Greenland toward the south lie Hellu- 
land (Newfoundland), Markland (Nova Scotia, Canada), 
and not far from this, Vinland, which, as some think, 
stretches out toward Africa. England and Scotland form 
one and the same island, and Ireland is a very large island. 
Iceland is also a large island on the north of Ireland. All 
these countries are in that part of the woi^ld which is called 
Europe.''''* The same, in similar words, has been said by 
other northern geographers.! 

It is Avell known that modern geographers, for a long time 
after they had acknowledged South America to be a separate 
continent, considered the north-eastern regions of America to 
be a part of Asia. So we may say that New England and 
the neighboring region were at first considered as a Euro- 
pean country, then as a section of Asia, till at last they came 
to be put upon their own American feet. 

In the appendage to this chapter I shall give a few Scan- 
dinavian maps, which will illustrate the views of the Ice- 
landic geographers on these regions. 

10. Reminiscences of the Northmen among the Indians 
OF New England. 

One would think that the extraordinary appearance of 
white men, of a much superior race, in immensely large 

* See this piece of Icelaudic geography quoted in Eafn, Antiquitatea 
Anierican;e, p. 289. 

t See them quoted, aud extracts given from their works, in Eafn, 1. c 
p. 290 seq. 



THE NOETHMEN AMONG THE INDIANS. 89 

ships, with iron tools and weapons, wouhl have made a great 
impression on the barbarous natives of Vinland. They saw 
their guests come and go very often during the course of 
several centuries. They had battles, traffic, and converse 
with them. They admired their large tame animals, saw 
them constructing colossal ships and houses. Perhaps they 
mixed also in marriage with those of them who made a 
longer stay, and produced a mixed race of European and 
American blood. All this must have been remembered a 
long time after the final disappearance of the strange settlers. 
The name of "Skrellings" was given by the Scandina- 
vians, particularly to that race of Americans whom we now 
call " Esquimaux," at present the inhabitants of the arctic 
regions ; and the name genex'ally is said to signify "the small 
people " (homunculi) ; which signification applies very well 
to the Esquimaux, who are of a small contracted figure, but 
not so well to the tall Indians of the Abenaki or Algonkin 
race, which modern discoverers found on the east coast of 
North America. 

Those who adopt the above interpretation of the name 
*' Skrellino-s" have thought, that, in the time of the North- 
men, our New England and vicinity had been inhabited by 
Esquimaux, and that after the time of the Northmen and 
before the time of Columbus and the Cabots they had been 
dispossessed, conquered, and driven to the north by the 
Algonkin or Abenaki Indians, coming from the west and 
south. If this had been the case, the historical traditions of 
the aborigines seen by the Northmen, and the impressions 
and impulses which they received from them, would have 
also disappeared. 

In contradiction to this theory, Rafn shows, in his often 
quoted work,* that the Avord " Skrelhng " does not exclu- 

* Eafn, 1. c. p. 45, note a. 



90 THE NOETHMEN AMONG THE INDIANS. 

sively mean "people small of body" (homunculi), as is 
usually supposed, but that it should be differently interpre- 
ted. Some Scandinavian authors have said, that the name 
was given to the aborigines from their meagre and poorly fed 
bodies, some from their little strength and mean armature. 
Others have said that the name should be derived from the 
Norse " Skraekja" (to cry), and that it meant " noisy criers." 
Others, again, have believed that it meant "vagabonds" or 
" vagrants." All these interpretations agree in this, that 
" Skrelling" was a name of contempt. And such a name, 
by the proud iron-clad Northmen, may have been given to our 
tall, but poorly living Indians, as well as to the small-bodied 
Esquimaux. The name, therefore, may have been a general 
denomination for all the barbarous tribes of America with- 
out reference to race. If this is the case, we may suppose 
that the Algonkin Indians, Micmacs, Tarratines, Pequots, 
and others, occupied the country at the time of the visits 
of the Northmen. And, indeed, this appears to me to be 
probable. 

The Indians of New England, though in very ancient 
times they may have come from the west, had, so far as I 
know, no tradition whatever of their beino; new-comers in the 
countries where our modern discoverers found them, or of 
having recently conquered these countries. The idea that 
the East was their old home is, on the contrary, very 
deeply rooted. A conquest and a complete destruction of 
another old indigenous race (the Esquimaux) would not have 
been an easy affair for the Indians. The very first aborigines 
of our east coast, carried off at the end of the fifteenth and 
at the beginning of the sixteenth centuries by the Cortereals 
and others, are described as a tall, well-built people. So that 
the Indians must have swept away the " Esquimaux " of New 
England, Nova Scotia, Canada, and Newfoundland, in that 



THE NORTHMEN AMONG THE INDIANS. 91 

not veiy long space between the times of the Northmen and 
of the Cabots and Cortereals. These same Indians are not 
even now rooted out by the much more powerful conquest of 
the French and English since Cabot, a period of about four 
hundred years. We have in INlainc to-day a remnant of 
Indians in the midst of our civilization, which that has not 
swept away. I therefore believe, that the so-called Skrel- 
lings, which the Northmen found in New England, were not 
Esquimaux, but Indians of the Abenaki or Algonkin race, 
the same as found there in modern times. 

This view is supported by the observations made by 
Rafn on some geographical names, which we have found in 
use among the Indians of the southern part of New England 
(Massachusetts, Rhode Island), and appear to be of Scandi- 
navian origin. He quotes the Indian name for a locality in 
Narraganset Bay, which they call " Haup," and suggests 
that it might be the Scandinavian place " Hop," so often 
mentioned in the history of the Vinland expeditions of the 
Northman, Thorfinn Karlsefne. He quotes, also, tlie Indian 
name "Nauset" for the peninsula of Cape Cod, and thinks 
that it might be the somewhat changed Scandinavian name, 
"Naeset" (the nose, — the principal cape of the country), 
given by the Northmen, by way of distinction, to Cape Cod.* 
Such names would scarcely have been preserved in the 
country, if the inhabitants, in the time of the Northmen, had 
been Esquimaux, and our Indians recent immigrants. 

Also, among the Wawenoc Indians of Maine, near Pema- 
quid, certain numerals have been handed down by tradition, 
bearing a resemblance to the Icelandic, which may have been 
derived by them in their barter with the nortliern strangers. 

» Eafn, 1. c. pp. 456, 457. 



92 VOYAGES OF THE ZENT. 

11. The Yoyages of the Venetians, Zeni, in the North- 
ern Parts of the Atlantic Ocean at the end of 
THE Fourteenth Century. 

It is ail extraordinary and nearly an inexplicable fact, that 
the Northmen, after having once found the countries included 
in the present United States so well fitted for colonization, 
did not continue their undertaking. They were planters, 
emigrants from their own country, and were seeking a new 
home. They populated under great difficulties the barren 
tracts of Iceland and Greenland, and founded there, in the 
neighborhood of the North Pole, flourishing colonies and 
states. They observed the attractive countries of New 
England, full of harbors and beautiful rivers, with a mild cli- 
mate, where the vine and corn grew spontaneously, and where 
planting would have been easy. They recognized, enjoyed, 
and praised in their writings all these advantages. Whilst 
the Spaniards, at a later time, on their maps of the United 
States, as I shall show hereafter, wrote the inscription, 
"Here nothing good is to be found;" the Northmen, on 
the contrary, called those same tracts " Vinland the Good^ 

Nay, more ; whilst those navigators, who came after the 
Northmen, the Spaniards, Portuguese, French, and English, 
made a discovery of America quite against their intention 
and wish, seeking only China and the East Indies, to which 
America was a barrier and obstacle ; the Northmen, on the 
contrary, explored America for its own sake. It was itself 
the object of their Vinland expeditions. They did not think 
it to be a new world. They considered it as a continuation 
of Europe, as a part of their own Scandinavian home. Yet 
notwithstanding all this, they abandoned that country, and 
relinquished the advantages of their discovery, to retire to 
their icy northern home. Their attempt had no lasting and 
important consequences for civilization. 



VOYAGES OF THE ZENI. 93 

Nevertheless, this attempt was not perfectly isolated. It 
has had some influence on the progress of discovery and the 
history of geography. Though their undertaking did not 
become universally known, still the memory of it was kept 
up by some, who, from different sources, received a knowl- 
edge of it, and who followed in their track. 

The first of these were certain navigators and travelers 
from Venice. The Venetians and the Genoese, though 
planted within their harbors in hidden corners of the Medi- 
terranean during a great part of the middle ages, were the 
most active navigators and merchants of the time ; and their 
vessels, at an early date, went far out into the Atlantic 
Ocean. Already in the thirteenth century some Genoese, 
the brothers Vadino and Guido de Vivaldi in the year 
1281, and, again, Theodosio Doria and Ugolino Vivaldi in 
the year 1292, are said to have sailed far to the west and 
south, and, as some believe, " with the intention to explore 
the Atlantic and to find like Columbus a way to the ori- 
ental regions," though the reports on the intentions and 
results of these Italian expeditions are very uncertain.* 

Great Britain was reached by the Venetians at a very early 
time. They had their entrepots in London in the thirteenth 
century. Nay, some authors pretend that the intercourse of 
the Venetians with the north of Europe is lost in the dark- 
ness of the most ancient times. f 

By northern historians the Italians are stated to have 
traded with their ships in the fifteenth century, before the 
time of Columbus and Cabot, in the southern parts of Ice- 



* See about this, Humboldt, Kritische Untersuchungen, vol. 1, pp. 46, 393. 
Berlin, 1852. 

t See upon this, L. Estancelin, Recherches sur les voyages et d^- 
couvertes des Normands, pp. 114, 116. Paris, 1832. 



94 VOYAGES OF THE ZENI. 

land, where German vessels from the Hanseatic towns, and 
English vessels from Bristol, then appeared.* 

If Italians are proved to have come to Iceland in the 
fifteenth century, they may have been there also in former 
times. 

Iceland, in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, was a 
powerful and aristocratic republic, and Greenland a flourishing 
colony. In both countries were several Roman Cath'olic 
bishops, who, being installed there by the pope, were in 
continuous intercourse with Italy. In Greenland, as late as 
the end of the fourteenth and the beginnino; of the fifteenth 
century, the so-called Peter-pence was collected, and sent 
from thence to Rome. The pope and his priests may be 
said, during all this time, to have had their eyes upon these 
quarters, so near to our region. Might there not also have 
come a pope's envoy in an Italian vessel to Greenland? 

At all events, we need not be astonished to hear, at the end 
of the fourteenth century, of Italian navigators (Venetians) 
sailing to these northern countries, which had such a manifold 
interest for Italy, exploring them, describing them, and trying 
even to put down their outlines on a chart. 

Nicolo Zeno, the descendant of an old well-known noble 
Venetian family, a wealthy and enterprising man, fitted out, 
at his own cost, a ship, soon after the famous battle of 
Chioggia, and navigated with her in the year 1380 toward 
England. He was driven by a storm further to the north, 
and arrived at a group of islands by him named " Friesland," 
which have been proved to be our present " Faroe." These 
islands had been in the possession of the Northmen, and 
peopled by them since the year 861. Here the Venetian 

* See upon tliis point, Eggert Olafsen, Reise durcli Island, vol.2, p. 231; 
and Finn Magnuseu, Nordisk Tidsskrift for Oldkyudighed, vol. 2. Kopen- 
hagen und Leipzig, 1774. 



VOYAGES OF THE ZENI. 95 

traveler, Zeno, was kindly received by the Norman governor, 
or lord, " Zichnmi," who ruled in this archipelago, having 
revolted against his chief, the king of Norway. The Vene- 
tian, with his vessel and able crew, assisted his friend in his 
war against the king, and was amply rewarded for it. He 
became Zichmni's prime minister and chief admiral, and, 
resolving to remain longer in this hospitable country, he 
sent to his brother, Antonio Zeno, in Venice, an invitation 
to join him in " Friesland." Antonio arrived in the year 
1391, and had likewise a kind reception by the Lord of the 
Isles. The two brothers, having made this Zichmni inde- 
pendent and powerful, then thought of making expeditions, 
conquests, and explorations toward more distant countries. 
During their long stay of many years in " Friesland," they 
gained an extensive knowledge of all the islands and coun- 
tries in the northern Atlantic, which they visited themselves, 
or of which they heard reports from their Northman friends. 
Thus they gained knowledge of the Shetland Islands, of the 
shores of Iceland and of Greenland, and heard also of some 
countries to the south of Greenland, named " Estotiland " 
and " Drogeo," to which the men of Friesland had once 
made an expedition, and of which they had gathered exten- 
sive information. 

Nicolo Zeno died in the course of these occupations and 
undertakings, in the year 1395; and his brother, Antonio, 
who lived longer, described his own and his brother's ad- 
ventures and discoveries in a book, in which he depicted 
on a chart, all the surrounding countries and islands, of 
which he and his brother had gained some knowledge. This 
he sent to his third brother, Carlo Zeno, who had remained 
in Venice. After this, he also died in the north, in the 
year 1404. 

Carlo Zeno appears to have kept these writings as a memo- 



96 VOYAGES OF THE ZENI. 

rial of liis brothers, and put them into the archives of his 
noble family, where the manuscript became damaged and 
partly decayed. After the invention of printing, and after 
the modern discovery of America, it fell into the hands of a 
descendant and member of the Zeno family, " Nicolo Zeno 
the younger," who, in the year 1558, published all that 
remained of the wonderful reports on the voyages and adven- 
tures of his ancestors ; and the book, now for the first time 
became known to the learned, and created a great sensation 
in the world. 

Some believed that it was altogether a fiction, invented by 
the Venetians to damage the fame of their Genoese rivals 
and the Spaniards, and to prove that America had been 
discovered and described by one of their own people long 
before Columbus. Others, on the contraiy, accepted the 
book as a true and faithful report of voyages and discoveries 
really made by the authors, and considered their chart as the 
best and most authentic source of information on the North 
Atlantic regions. 

The discussions on this point were carried on through 
several centuries, until, in modern times, after a critical and 
careful examination of the contents of the work of the said 
Venetians, the greater part of the learned liave acknowledged 
the reahty of their voyages and the faithfulness of their 
reports, although it is admitted that they contained many 
misconceptions, and were embellished with fanciful fables.* 

The most important part of the work of the Zeni is, 

* See uiion this, Raniusio, Navigationi i Viaggi, torn. 2, fol. 330; G. Tira- 
boschi, Storia della Litteratura Italiana, torn. 5, parte 1, p. 128 seq. Fi- 
renze, 1807; Foscarini, Delia Litteratura Veueziana, p. 431. Venezia, 1814; 
C. C. Zahotmanu, Dm Zenierues Reiser la Nordisk Tidsskrift for Oldkyn- 
dighed, vol. 2, j). 9. Kjobenhavn, 1833; Humboldt, Kritische Untersuch- 
ungen, vol. 1, pp.47, 82, 361, 370,372 ff., 388; and, above all, T. Lelewel, 
Geographic du Moyen Age, torn. 3, p. 79 seq. 



SEA-CHART OF THE ZENI. 97 

decidedly, the chart annexe:! to it ; because, without it, it is 
impossible to understand clearly the contents of their report. 
I will annex a copy of the map ; and, in examining it, will 
also treat of the contents of the report, so far as they may 
touch the subject of our research. 

The Sea-chaet of Nicolo and Antonio Zeno, made 
ABOUT the Year 1400. 

The sea-chart of the bi'others Zeni, drawn at the end of 
the fourteenth century, and published in the year 1558, is, 
in many respects, a most extraordinary and important pro- 
duction. One great country, Greenland, was drawn on it 
with more accuracy than had been done on any known map 
before the year 1400, or even before 1558. The chart was 
copied by many distinguished geographers, adopted by them 
as true, and introduced into their general works. Its errors 
or misrepresentations were also continued ; and several coun- 
tries which existed only on the Zeni's chart, were introduced 
into geography, and sought after by explorers, until at last, 
after two hundred years, the errors were exposed. Several 
navig-ators and discoverers, amongst others Frobisher, had 
the map of the Zeni as a guide on board their vessels, and 
sailed by it.* Upon the whole, we can point out scarcely any 
map which has given so much light, and has, at the same 
time, caused so much confusion. 

The copy which we give is made after the first edition of it 
published in the year 1558, by Nicolo Zeno. I have copied 
the outlines and configurations of the countries exactly as 
they were given there, and also the degrees of latitude and 
longitude contained on it. For though this graduation was 
not on the original manuscript, but added by the editor, 

* See upon this, G. M. Asher, Henry Hudson, p. 107. London, 1806. 

7 



98 SEA-CHART OF THE ZENI. 

" Nicolo Zeno the voiino-er," and thoush it occasioned much 
misunderstanding and confusion, still it was adopted as true 
by subsequent geographers, was copied by them, and gained, in 
this manner, an historical importance. Without this gradua- 
tion, although not originally placed there, we could not under- 
stand the ideas and works of subsequent map-makers, who 
believed in its truth. 

The original is covered with numerous names ; soms of 
them evidently correct, existing Scandinavian names, which 
can easily be identified, or which contain, at least, a Scandi- 
navian element ; for instance, all those ending with "fiord." 
These names, which I have put down on my copy, have great 
interest for us ; for they prove that they were derived from 
the true source, and that the authors of the map, who could 
not find them on other maps existing in Europe at that time, 
must have taken them on the spot. 

There are, however, many other names on the original, 
which appear strange and fanciful, and cannot be identified 
with modern names ; they evidently never existed in north- 
ern countries in the form in which they are here set down. 
Originally they may have been real and true geographical 
names, but written on the first draught by Antonio Zeno 
in an unintelligible manner. The Italian copyists, pub- 
lishers, and printers of 1558, may have read them according 
to their own style and view. As the original manuscript of 
the map had been much damaged, the publishers may have 
restored some defaced names according to their fancv. These 
fanciful and strange names, therefore, are no proof whatever 
against the authenticity of the original map. But I have 
omitted them, because I cannot decipher and explain them, 
and because they would only embarrass the reader. For our 
purpose it is quite sufficient to have the intelligible names, or 
only some of them, to assure us, that the map is perfectly 



SEA-CHART OF THE ZENI. 99 

worthy of our attention. The chart and all its contents 
have been examined and explained so thoroughly by several 
authors, particularly by Lelewel, that I have here but little 
to do but to make, from his results, a choice of those points 
which appear to me important for my subject.* 

The chart gives in the south-east, at first, the northern 
point of "Scocia" (Scotland), and then the peninsula of 
Jutland, which, for the time, 1400, is remarkably well drawn. 
The same may be said of the waters and gulfs between 
Jutland and the south coast of "Suecia" (Sweden), and 
"Norvegia" (Norway), the so-called " Skager Rak," and 
" Cattegat." 

Along the coast of Norway we meet several well-known 
points and places : " pergen " (the town of Bergen) ; 
"stat" (the famous Cape Statlant) ; "tronde" (the town 
of Drontheim) ; and far in the north-east, " Gwardus en- 
sula" (Vardochuus). The long Archipelago of the numer- 
ous Loffoden Islands is depicted, though not named. 

The configuration given to the middle and northern parts 
of the coast of Norway is not correct. But it is better drawn 
than on any other map before the year 1400, on which no 
other country of Europe was so much disfigured as Scan- 
dinavia. Nay, on many maps of the first half of the six- 
teenth century, Scandinavia is made to look like a terra 
incognita. 

The northern parts of Russia are not indicated ; and the 
author of the map, in putting here dotted or uncertain lines, 
with the inscription, "mare et terre incognite" (seas and 
countries unknown), gives us to understand, that he will not 
decide the question, whether the navigable sea ends here, and 

* See Lelewel's Essay on tlie " Tavola di Zeni " in his " Geographie du 
Mo yen Age," torn. 3, p. 79 seq. 



100 SEA-CHAET OF THE ZENI. 

whether the northern parts of Evirope are connected by terra 
finni with arctic countries round the pole, or not. 

Going from "Norvegia" to the west, the next group of 
isknds is called " Estland " (our present Shetland), which, 
as on our map, is situated between the north of Scotland 
and the middle coast of Norway. The ancient Scandina- 
vian name for those islands was " Hialtland," and more 
commonly, " Hitland." Our map has this name (spelled 
"itland"). Several names, ending with the Scandinavian 
"fort," "incafort," " onlefort," " olofort," prove at least 
that we have before us Northman names, which, in ancient 
times, may have existed, or which were somewhat changed, 
under the orthography of the Italians. 

To the west of the Shetlands occurs the great island 
" Frisland," surrounded by several smaller ones. The name, 
" Frisland," conducts us to the group, which, at present, is 
named the " Faeroer " (Faroe), and which, in ancient times, 
were called " Faereyjar " or " Fareysland," or " Ferrisland," 
shortened to " Freesland," or " Frisland." Some of the 
names given by our author to "Frisland" correspond to 
names still found among the Faeroer (Faroe). So the fol- 
lowing in the south: "monaco" (the monk), the most 
southern point of the Faroe group, a rock, is still called the 
Monk (Munk);* and so " sorand," the southern section of 
" Frisland," is very probably " Suderoe," the most southern 
island of the Faroe group. 

" Sudero colfo " (Gulf of Sudero) is our present " Sudero 
sund," a channel separating the said southern island from 
the rest of the group, " colfo noi-dero" (the Gulf of Nordero). 
Nordero or Norderoe (the northern island) is still the name 
of one of the northern Faroe ; " streme" — " stromoc," is the 

* See Baggesen, Deu Danske Stat, p. 451. Kjobenliavn, 1840. 



SEA-CHART OF THE ZENI. 101 

present name of the largest of the Faroe ; and " andoford," 
" Andafiord" (the bay of the ducks), a gulf in the northern 
part of the island of " Oesteroe," still bears that name. 

These names alone will be sufficient to prove, that the 
" Frisland" of the Zeni is our present Faroe group.* They 
put tills group nearly in its right position and relation to 
Scotland, north-west of it, and at the true distance from Ice- 
land. Tliat they made the Faroe so extremely large may 
be explained from the fact, that they resided upon them for 
more than twenty years, and that it was their central 
or starting point for all their expeditions. Lelewel, with 
good reason, thinks that on the original manuscript map of 
the Zeni of the year 1400, the Frisland or Faroe group 
was cut up into many smaller islands, and that the manuscript 
was injured, particularly at that part, the lines of the interior 
channels destroyed ; and that, in this manner, such a large 
piece of country as we find on our map, was delivered to the 
engraver and painter of 1558. f But nearly all the subse- 
quent geographers and map-makers after 1558 concluded that 
there still existed in the northern Atlantic, a large country, 
" Frisland," similar in size to Iceland or Greenland. The 
history of this geographical problem, and how it Avas solved, 
is very interesting ; but I omit it here, as not connected with 
our subject. 

" Islanda" (Iceland) is placed in its right position, midway 
between the central parts of Norway and Greenland, and the 
size given to it is nearly the true one; though the general out- 
lines or form are not quite so. 

Among the names which attest the acquaintance of the 
Zeni with this country are the following, namely : in 

*For more proofs and for the literature of this subject, see Lelewel, 1. c. 
p. 103, note 46. 
t See Lelewel, 1. c. p. 101. 



102 SEA-CHAET OF THE ZENI. 

the South, " flogascer " (or foglaster), corresponding to 
"fuglasker" (the bird rocks), a name still found in the 
south of Iceland ; " Scalodin" (Skalholt), in the interior of 
the south part of Iceland, the famous ancient residence of 
one of its bishops; "Anaford" (Anafiord or Hanefiord), 
a bay on Avliich the place Hanas was standing; " Olensis," 
" Holum," or " Holar," the residence of the second bishop of 
Iceland, " episcopus Holensis ;" " Noder," something like 
" Norden." 

In their excursions from " Frisland" (the Fariie) the 
Zeni reached also Greenland, on the map called " Engrone- 
lant" and " Gronlandia." They appear to have visited it; 
and the Scandinavian seamen communicated to them their 
own knowledge of this country, which, at the time of the 
Zeni, was still a flourishing colony, full of small settlements. 

The draught, which the Zeni give on their map of Green- 
land, is the most remarkable part of their whole work. 
The size and form they give to Greenland ; its triangular 
shape ; its broad extension to the north, and the pointed 
and narrow peninsula in the south ; the high mountains 
in the interior, and the chain of small islands, peninsulas, 
headlands, and fiords all round the coast ; the latitude given 
to it, the middle parts north-west of Iceland, and the southern 
point in the latitude of Bergen, in Norway, — all these are 
strikingly true features of this large country. It is not prob- 
able that the Zeni saAV and explored all this themselves. 
Such a figure of Greenland as they give could only be the 
result of long research and intimate acquaintance with the 
country. They, no doubt, obtained their information from 
the Northmen. Nay, they must have received maps and 
charts from them. Even if we did not know that the old 
Northmen made charts of their colonies, we might be cer- 
tain from this picture of Greenland by the Zeni, that they 



SEA-CHAKT OF THE ZENI. 103 

could not have drawn it without having before them some 
map prepared from long observation. Neither in the year 
1400, the date of the original of our map, nor in 1558, the 
date of its being engraved and published, could such a truth- 
ful representation of Greenland be found in Europe, either in 
manuscript or print. The Zeni by their map enriched and 
corrected the knowledge of the globe with respect to an essen- 
tial point. Some admirers of their map have given it as 
their opinion, that they owed their original to the aborigines 
of Greenland, the Esquimaux, who are known to be skillful 
in drawing maps. I doubt, however, whether the Esquimaux 
were able to make such a good general and comprehensive 
picture of their far-extended home, as we see on our map. 
The knowledge of Esquimaux geographers, probably, did not 
go very far beyond the cape or fiord on which they were 
settled. Such a comprehensive picture could only proceed 
from, and be the result of distant and often-repeated naviga- 
tions, such as the Northmen were vised to make. 

Only on the distant north-east of Greenland, which is still 
undefined, the Zeni and their informants were uncertain ; as 
also on the north-east of Norway. According to their draught 
they appear to have doubted, whether Greenland was sepa- 
rated from the old world by water or united to it by land. 

The Greenland of the Zeni, after 1558, was many times 
copied by European geographers, and embodied into their 
general maps of the world, though they wrongly connected 
it with other countries in consequence of the incorrect 
graduation of our map, subsequently interpolated by a de- 
scendant of the Zeni, Nicolo Zeno the younger. If the old 
Zeni themselves could have explained their map, they might 
have told their descendants, that they would not have the 
southern point of their Greenland end in 66° north latitude, 
knowing very well that it came down much further to the 
south. 



104 SEA-CHART OF THE ZENI. 

I omit here an examination of the particular Greenland 
names on the map of Zeno, as not being of nmch interest for 
our suhject, but refer the reader to the essay of Lelewel.* 

I come now to those smaller portions of country set down 
in the south-west corner of the Zeni's map, to which the 
names " Icaria," " Estotiland," and " Droceo " are given, 
and which, for us here, have the greatest interest. 

Antonio Zeno, in the report on his and his brother's voy- 
ages, relates, that, according to the assertions of their Fris- 
land friends, a fishing vessel from " Frisland," — the Faroe, 
being driven by a storm far out to the west, arrived at a 
country named " Estotiland," the inhabitants of which had 
commerce with " Engroenelandt" (Greenland). This coun- 
try, Estotiland, was very fertile, and had high mountains in 
the interior. The king of the country had in his possession 
some books written in Latin, which, however, he did not 
understand. The language which he and his subjects spoke 
had no similarity whatever to the Norse. 

The king of Estotiland, seeing that his guests sailed in 
much safety with the assistance of an instrument (the com- 
pass), persuaded them to make a maritime expedition to 
another country situated to the south of Estotiland, and called 
" Drogeo," or " Droceo." There they had the misfortune 
to fall into the hands of a most barbarous tribe. They were 
all killed except one, who was made a slave, and who, after 
a long time and after many adventures, at last found his Avay 
back to Greenland and to the Faroe. He related, that the 
country, " Drogeo," stretched far to the south, and was a 
very large country, like another world, and that it was all 
full of savage tribes, who covered themselves with skins and 
lived by hunting. Tiiey had no other weapons than bows 
and arrows, and lived among each other in an eternal warfare. 

* Lelewel, 1. c. p. 98. 



SEA-CHART OF THE ZENI. 105 

But far off to the south-west were some more civihzcd 
nations, wliich knew the use of the precious metals, and built 
towns and temples ; it was, however, their custom to kill 
their prisoners and offer them to their gods. 

This appears to have been for the time, 1400, a pretty 
good description of the state of things in America as far 
down as Mexico. And if it does not seem })ossible that all 
this information could be brought together by that one Scan- 
dinavian slave, or traveler, among the Indians of " Drogeo," 
it may, perhaps, be taken as a resum^ of all the knowledge 
acquired by the Northmen on their expeditions to the west 
and south-west. This traveler may have heard these tales 
on his return to Greenland or Iceland, and may have brought 
this tradition to the Faroe, and to the ears of the Zeni. 

The name " Estotiland " appears to be of German origin, 
and has been explained as " East-outland," or the land 
lying far out toward the east. Because Newfoundland 
stretches out more toward the east than any other part of 
America on the south of Greenland, some have thought that 
"Estotiland" might be a Northman name for tliat island. 
Others have applied the name to our present Labrador. 
And othei's, again, seeing that Antonio Zeno puts on his 
map to the north-east of Estotiland, but south of Greenland, 
another pretty large island with the name of " Icaria," have 
thought that this " Icaria " (which Antonio Zeno asserts that 
he had visited with his friend Zichmni, after having received 
the favorable report of the country, " Drogeo"), might be 
Newfoundland, and that Estotiland on the south-west, our 
Cape Breton and Nova Scotia. "Drogeo," of wliich Zeno 
gives on his map only a small part, would then be our New 
England, According to this view we would have, as in the 
old Icelandic reports, three countries to the south of Green- 
land : 



106 SEA-CHAET OF THE ZENT. 

1. Icaria (Helluland, Newfoundland). 2. Estotiland 
(Markland, Nova Scotia). 3. Drogeo (Vinland, New 
England).* 

The subsequent geographers and map-makers (after 1558), 
Mercator, Ortelius, etc., did not interpret the Zeni's map as 
we have done. They adopted everything contained in this 
map, also the south-western countries, Icaria, Estotiland, and 
Drogeo ; hut they made them swim like additional separate 
islands in the midst of the ocean, putting to the west of 
them the countries, Newfoundland, Nova Scotia, New Eng- 
land, which they represented in the manner and shape given 
to them by the navigators and explorers of the sixteenth cen- 
tury. 

It Avill probably be impossible to make the history and 
geography of Icai-ia, Estotiland, and Drogeo quite clear. 
But from their position to the south-west of Greenland it 
appears to be certain, that some sections of the north-east of 
America are indicated by them. And so, at all events, to 
our map of 1400 must be ascribed the particular distinction 
and merit, that it is the first and oldest map knoivn to us, on 
which so7ne sections of the continent of Aynerica have been laid 
down. 



* Lelewel on his map puts " Drogeo " exactly in the locality of the ter- 
ritory of the State of Maine. 



N!?1I 




The Norll) = AtivHlttic, by the Jcelviu^n- 



APPENDAGE TO CHAPTER II 

CHARTS OF THE NORTHMEN. 



1. On the Map No. 2 of the Nokth Atlantic Ocean, dbawn 
BY THE Icelander, Sigurdus Stephanius, in 1570. 

The Scandinavian historian, Tlioi'modus Torfaeus, gives in liis work 
" Gronlandia Antiqna" (Ancient Greenland), Havnise, 170G, engi-avings 
of several old and very curious charts of the North Atlantic. As 
authors of these charts he mentions some learned Scandinavian 
draughtsmen from Iceland. 

All these draughts in Torfaeus have in common the following 
features : they place Iceland about the center of the picture, some- 
what in the same manner as old European maps placed the holy city, 
Jerusalem, in the midst of their pictures of the world. To the north 
of this their home, from which the Northmen, on their excursions in 
all directions, went to discover the circumjacent countries, they put 
Greenland ; to the east, Norway and Russia ; to the south. Great 
Britain and France ; and to the west, parts of America and also 
Greenland. 

Greenland, for the Icelanders so important a region, is depicted as 
an extremely large country. So also are the neighboring islands, the 
"Faroe," and "Hetland" (our Shetland). Great Britain and France, 
like countries seen from a distance, are of a rather small size. 

Between Greenland and Russia (" Biarmaland," the present "Perm"), 
the ocean contracts to a narrow channel, named on some of the maps 
" Dumbshaf " On the' gi'eater part of the maps, the ocean between 
southern Europe and America is also very narrow ; so that the whole 
North Atlantic appears to be au inland sea, with four narrow outlets; 
one in the south, one in the north (the Dumbshaf), one in the east, 
looking to the Baltic ; and one in the west, conducting to the arctic 
waters, our Davis' Strait, with the old Norman name " Ginnungagap." 

I give here two of the Icelandic maps contained in Torfaeus (Nos. 2 
and .3). Our present map. No. 2, according to Torfaeus, — or more par- 
ticularly according to " Magister Theodorus Torlacius," whom Tor- 



108 CHARTS OF THE NORTHMEN. 

faeus quotes in the notes to the map, and who was himself a historian 
of Iceland,— was made in the year 1570, by Sigurdus Stephanius, an 
Icelander. Torlacius calls him a " learned man, once the most worthy 
rector of the school in Skalhott, a well-known place in Iceland, who 
published also a description of Iceland." " He appears " says Torla- 
cius, "to have taken this his picture from the Icelandic antiquities" 
(" Delineationem hanc suam ex antiquitatibus Islandicis desumpsisse 
videtur"). Perhaps among those Icelandic antiquities were not only 
reiJorts, but also some draughts and charts ; though Rafn, in his "Anti- 
quitates Americanae," does not state that he found charts among the 
Icelandic manuscripts seen by him. 

Iceland has, on our map, too low a latitude. It is too near the 
southern point of Heriolfsnaes (Cape Farewell). The whole southern 
section of " Groenlandia" (Greenland) is extended too far to the east. 

To the south-west we meet " Helluland" (Newfoundland). Between 
the two countries is a gulf, the ancient " Ginnungagap" of the North- 
men (Davis' Strait). "Helluland" (Newfoundland) is represented as 
a i^eninsula, projecting eastward. 

To the south of " Helluland " comes a gulf, the entrance to the St. 
Lawrence, and then another peninsula similar to the former, called 
"Markland" (Nova Scotia). The little gulf to the south of "Mark- 
land " is the entrance to our Bay of Fundy. 

After this little inlet there opens to the south a large gulf, resem- 
bling, in size and form, the Gulf of Maine, sometimes called by the 
Northmen, " Vinlands-IIaf." The gulf ends in the south, with a 
pointed cul de sac, formed by a very conspicuous headland, which is 
called " Promonlorium Vinlandiae" (the Cape of Vinland). This cul 
de sac has a striking similarity to our Cape Cod Bay. And the cape 
which is called " Promontorium Vinlandiae," has about the form of a 
hook, or a ship's nose. I think it cannot be doubted, that we have 
here a picture of the old and famous Cape "Kialarnes" (Ship-nose) 
of the Northmen. That this cape should be called " the Promontory 
of Vinland," is very natural; because it really is the most conspicuous 
headland of all that tract of country, which, among the Northmen, 
was designated as " Vinland." 

All these countries, "Helluland," " Markland," and " Vinland " have 
the same relative position to Greenland; and follow in the same series 
in which they are given in the old reports on the discoveries of the 
Northmen. That they have a much higher latitude than is at present 
given to them, — for instance, Helluland, the latitude of southern Nor- 
way ; Vinland, the latitude of southern England, — ought not to astonish 
us ; because Stephanius, the author of the map, could not gain much 



mm, 




TbcNortll = AtlanltC by H)c JcdaiuVr 6inM)rcniC>u^^ 
TovUiciu^>i'n tl)onoarl606. 



CHARTS OF THE NORTHMEN. 109 

light on the hititudes from the okl Icelandic reports. On some of the 
old Icelandic maps, "Terra Florida" has the latitude of northei-n 
France. Nor should the colossal dimensions, given on our map to the 
point " Promontorium Vinlandiae," deceive us. The Cape of Vinland, 
the Cape Kialarnes, is so often mentioned in the reports of the North- 
men, and takes such a prominent place in the history of their discove- 
ries, that, according to its great fame and name, it must have stood 
before the mind of an Icelandic draughtsman, as sometliing very- 
grand. 

That the Icelander, Stephanius, in constructing his map, used Euro- 
pean originals, is evident from his fabulous island of " Frisland," to 
the south of Iceland. That this island, in the place assigned to it, did 
not exist, must have been pretty well known in Iceland itself. It 
could only be found in Italian, German, or other European maps. 
Therefore Theodorus, in his notes, adds the remark: ."What island 
this is, I do not know, if, perhaps, it be not that country which a 
Venetian (Nicolo Zeno) discovered, and which the Germans call Fries- 
land." 

For his figure of Great Britain and Ireland, he may also have used 
foreign maps. But for the coast of America (" Helluland," ''Mark- 
land," "Promontorium Vinlandise "), he could not find upon the 
European maps of 1570 anything like what he has drawn. This part 
he must have taken from Icelandic originals. 

From all this I conclude, that we have here in the " Promontorium 
Vinlandiae" a good type of our Cape Cod after okl Northman originals, 
and in the gulf and coast between this and " Markland," an indication 
of the Gulf of Maine, with the coast of Massachusetts, New Hamp- 
shire, and Maine. 



2. Ox THE Map No. 3 of the Nokth Atlantic Ocean, drawn 

BY GUDBRANDUS ToRLACIUS IN 1606. 

For the sake of comparison and to illustrate further the geography 
of the old Northmen of Iceland, we have added, in No. ;!, a copy of 
another map, contained in Torfaeus, and made about forty years later 
than the former. 

This map, according to the notes added to it by Theodorus Tor- ' 
lacius, was delineated by Gudbrandus Torlacius, " a most learned 
man, who was fifty-six years bishop in Iceland, and a reformer of the 
churches and schools of the country." 

Which of these originals this bishop used for the construction of his 
map, we do not learn. The narrow form given to the North Atlantic, 



110 CHARTS OF THE NOBTHMEN. 

with Iceland in the center, as usual on Icelandic maps, presents a view 
of the whole field of the Northman discoveries. 

To the east coast of North America the bishop has not paid much 
attention. He calls it " Estotilandia," a name not invented in Iceland, 
but introduced into geography by the Zeui. 

The principal feature of the map is the very correct configuration of 
Greenland, which here is much better depicted than on the former 
map. It would have been an improvement of many European maps 
of the year 1606, if this Icelandic representation of Greenland had 
become known in Europe. The Icelanders spoiled their maps by intro- 
ducing " Frisland," " Estotiland," and other imaginary countries, which 
then retained a place in the geography of Europeans, who took no 
notice of these old Icelandic maps. 

Some modern geographers (for instance Malte Brun)* mention a 
manuscript map, made by Gudbrand Torlakson, as being preserved 
in the royal library of Kopenhagen. I have not had the good fortune 
to see this map, but it probably contains the same things, which we 
find depicted on our No. 3, " made by Gudbrandus Torlacius." 

* See Malte Brun, Geschichte der Erdkunde Herausgegeben von E. A. W. von Zim- 
mermann, vol. 2, p. 183. Leipzig, 1812. 



CHAPTER III. 

ENGLISH TRADING EXPEDITIONS FROM BRISTOL AND 
OTHER ENGLISH PORTS TOWARD THE NORTH-WEST, 
PRINCIPALLY TO ICELAND, DURING THE FOURTEENTH 
AND FIFTEENTH CENTURIES. — JOHN, OF KOLNO. — CO- 
LUMBUS. 



Though Iceland, after the loss of her colonies in Green- 
land and America, and after she had hecome a dependent 
province of Denmark in 1380, was not so powerful as before, 
yet she remained, in the fourteenth century, an important 
province, and the country was pretty well peopled. There 
were always two bishops on the island, and a number of 
influential and wealthy families and chieftains, having many 
wants, which their northern country was unable to supply, 
and which could be supplied only from the south. She 
therefore remained during the fifteenth century the object 
of a lively commerce. The inhabitants received their south- 
ern necessaries partly from Norway through Bergen, Avhere 
the Hanseatic towns had their great emporium and factory for 
the whole North ; but principally, perhaps, from that neigh- 
boring southern country, from which Iceland had, in former 
times, received her fii'st Christian settlers, the " Papas," 
prior to the Northmen, and with whicli the connection and 
intercovirse had probably never ceased.* 

* See upon this, Finn Magnusen, " Om de Eugelskes Handel paa Island i 
detlSde Aarhundrede in Nordisk Tidsskrift for Oldkyudif^hed," 2 Bind, 
p. 164. Kiobenhavu, 1833. 



112 ENGLISH EXPEDITIONS PEIOR TO 1492. 

The navigation from the ports of Great Britain to Iceland 
appears to have been particularly flourisliing during the 
time above indicated. Several British ports were used in 
this trade. Hull, London, and Bristol are mentioned as such ; 
and Scotch and Irish vessels are said to have gone over at 
times, for fishing and commercial purposes. But the prin- 
cipal seat and centre of all these commercial expeditions to 
Iceland was Bristol, the same port from Avhich, afterwards, 
the Cabots set out for their famous north-western discoveries. 
The croods wliich the Eno-lish carried to Iceland were mani- 
fold : cloth, and other manufactures ; corn, wheat, and other 
breadstuff's ; wine, beer, and other liquors.* They received 
in exchange for these commodities fish, principally stockfish. 
Iceland and its waters were, together with the coast of Nor- 
Avay, the great fishing-ground for cod ; and we may call it, in 
this respect, the forerunner of the Newfoundland Banks, the 
great outpost for European fishermen in later times. f Some- 
times also learned men, or at least priests, appear to have 
gone out witli those Eno-lish fishermen and merchants to the 
north-west. At least, a certain Nicolas, of Linne, is men- 
tioned, as having made a voyage to the north-west from the 
English port of " Linne," now Kingslynn, in Norfolk, and 
as having arrived in Iceland with favorable winds in a fort- 
night. | 

How brisk this commerce in some years must have been, 
is clear from the fact mentioned by Norwegian authors, that 
in the month of April, 1419, a heavy snow-storm in a short 

* See tliem mentioned in Finn Magnusen, 1. c. p. 147. 
t Au old English poem of the fifteenth century, quoted by Hakluyt, 
begins with these words: 

" Of Iceland to write is little nede 
Save of Stockfish," etc. 
I See on this, C. C. Zartmaun, in Nouvelles Annales des Voyages, torn. 
3, p. 48, 1836. 



ENGLISH EXPEDITIONS PRIOR TO 1402. 113 

time destroyed not less than twenty-five English vessels, the 
cargoes and wrecks of which were scattered on the coasts of 
Iceland and circumjacent islands, whilst the crews were 
swallowed by the sea.* The English, thinking that so great 
disasters could not have happened without the assistance and 
ill-will of the Icelanders, went over to Iceland with an armed 
force to take revenge for the robberies of which they accvised 
them. English men-of-war, or " pirates*," as the Icelanders 
called them, during the course of the centiiry, went repeat- 
edly over to Iceland to seek satisfaction for some supposed 
insult. They made war in the island, settled and fortified 
themselves there, and seemed as if they had the intention of 
conquering the whole country. Now and then, also, they 
quarreled with the merchants and mariners from the Hanse- 
atic ports, in many respects their rivals in the commerce of 
Northern Europe ; who, likewise, as I have mentioned above, 
often sailed to Iceland ; and with whom the English, from 
time to time, had conflicts in those northern seas. 

It is not my intention to give a complete history of the 
commerce from England, and particularly from Bristol to 
Iceland ; but it is interesting and important to show the 
English posted on that great northern oceanic high-road, 
which had conducted the Europeans repeatedly to discovery 
in north-eastern America, and to see them in the Icelandic 
waters, on the threshold of America, occupied with fishing, 
and military, piratical, and commercial expeditions. Under 
these circumstances, it may not be unreasonable to suppose, 
that English vessels may have been driven by storms to 
Greenland, Labrador, Vinland, and so to the coast of 
Maine ; as the old Northmen and the Zeni were driven to 
" Fi'island." Though the vessels of the fifteenth century 

* See on this, Finn Magnusen, 1. c. 115. 



114 ENGLISH EXPEDITIONS PRIOR. TO 1402. 

had the advantage of the compass, which the old Northmen 
had not, still if one storm alone, that of 1419, could disperse 
and destroy twenty-five English vessels, there may have been 
many chances for widely ranging oceanic adventures in those 
seas. We have, liowever, no reports of any such event, 
as in previous times is said to have happened to Prince 
Madoc, to Naddod, Biarne, and the subjects of king 
Zichmni. The only exception to this appears to be the 
report, that ])irates at that time had their lurking-places on 
the coast of Greenland. 

Toward the end of the fifteenth century, in the year 1476, 
the king of Denmark, Christian I, is said to have sent out, 
under the command of a certain John Scolnus, more cor- 
rectly called John of Kolno, a native of Poland, an ex- 
ploring expedition on the same old northern route toward 
the West. The first author who very briefly mentions this 
Polish adventure, is the Spanish historian Gomara, in the 
year 1553, without, however, stating from whom he had it. 
The Dutch cosmographer, Cornelius Wytfliet, more fully 
speaks of him in his well-known work, " Descriptionis 
Ptolemaica3 augmentum. Lovanii, 1597." On folio 102 of 
this work, after having related the voyage of the Zcni, he 
says, that, in the year 1476, the said John Scolnus, sailing 
beyond Norway, Frisland (Iceland?), and Greenland, 
entered the Arctic Strait (Boreale fretum ingressus, sub 
ipso arctico circulo) ; and came to Labrador and Estotiland. 
Neither does Wytfliet say, from what source he had this 
report. But after his time it was a current opinion among 
geographers and historians, that Kolno, in the year 1476, had 
discovered, under the direction and order of Christian I., 
the strait called Anian, — a north-western passage through 
Hudson's Strait. Many have repeated this report without 
finding any other authority for it than Gomara and Wytfliet. 



EXPEDITIONS OF COLUMBUS PRIOR TO 1492. 115 

But the Danisli and Nor\ven;ian writers upon this subject 
consider that voyage as altogether apocryphal, and say, that 
their old northern historians and documents do not contain 
the slightest mention of such an expedition. Moreover, they 
think that if it was made at all, it could have been nothing 
more than an attempt to find out again the lost old Greenland, 
and not to make new discoveries in the distant west.* The 
learned Polish geographer, Lelewel, though inclined, from 
a patriotic motive, to make a great deal of the undertaking 
ascribed to his countrymen, has found no Polish authority 
whatever. We therefore dismiss this somewhat celebrated 
voyage with the simple statement, that it probably never took 
place, or that, at all events, it had nothing to do with Vinland 
and Maine, as, indeed, Lelewel explicitly alleges. 

It is curious, however, that in the very next year after that 
ascribed to the pretended voyage of this Pole, namely, in 
the year 1477, another great navigator, the greatest and most 
famed of all, Christopher Columbus himself, went out to 
explore and reconnoiter on the very same old northern route 
toward the west. And if, as Lelewel says, the voyage of 
Scolnus at once became known in Portugal and Spain, he 
might as well have added the supposition, that perhaps also 
Columbus heard of it, and that he might have been attracted 
to the north by the reports of this expedition of Clu'istian I. 
Columbus, having his mind full of speculations and ideas 
about the possibility of a circumnavigation of the globe, and 
about the short distance between Europe and the eastern end 
of Asia, made several trials and performed sevez-al voyages 
preparatory, so to say, to his grand undertaking. He went 
in a southern direction to Madeira, Porto-Santo, the Canary 
Islands, nay, to the coast of Guinea. He made himself 



* See for tbis the work, Grcinland's Historiske Miudesmaerker. Tredie 
Bind, p. G30. Kiobeuhavn, 18i5. 



116 EXPEDITIONS OF COLUMBUS PRIOR TO 1492. 

acquainted with all the routes of the Portuguese, and also 
with the extreme ne 2}lus ultra of their discoveries in a west- 
ern direction, toward the Azores or Western Islands. Hum- 
boldt thinks it probable, that he himself made an excursion to 
this western out-post of Portuguese discovery.* Columbus 
tried also, in the year 147T, the northern route, sailing 
(probably with an English merchantman from Bristol) 
toward Iceland, and even some distance beyond it. What 
•induced him to undertake this voyage, he has not told us. 
But very probably it was the fame of the Ultima Thule, 
that attracted him. He had read, probably, about it in his old 
books, in which it was described as the most remote country 
discovered by the Romans. And he might have inquired, 
" Are there not still other countries beyond it, and, perhaps, 
some parts of Asia quite near to it?" The distinguished 
French geographer, Malte Brun, has supposed, that Colum- 
bus, while yet in Italy, had heard something of the early dis- 
coveries of the Northmen beyond Thule. f And this is not 
at all unlikely. In Rome, the center of the world, where 
they had always an eye upon all countries, both heathen and 
Christian, they certainly knew something of Greenland ; and 
in Venice, the voyages of the Zeni, though they were not 
printed as yet, may have been known to some persons. A 
Danish author thinks it also possible, that Columbus, who 
made research in all books, printed and manuscript, about his 
supposed countries in the west, had become acquainted with 
some copy of the work of the well-known old historian, 
Adam of Bremen, who clearly mentioned the discovery of 
Vinland.| 

By such hints Columbus may have been induced to make 

* Humboldt, Kritische Untersuchungen, vol. 1, p. 231. Berlin, 1852. 

t See upon this, Malte Brun, Histoire de la Geographic, ed. 2, pp. 395, 499. 

$ See Finn Magnusen, 1. c. p. 1G5, note 1. 



EXPEDITIONS OF COLUMBUS PRIOR TO 1492. 117 

his voyage to Iceland, " and a hundred leagues beyond it." 
This must have brouglit him nearly in sight of Greenland, 
and, at all events, for the first time, into American waters. 

We have, unhappily, only a very shox't notice * of this, to 
us, particularly interesting voyage, which evidently was a 
pioneering or exploring expedition in the direction toward 
the north-east parts of America. But so much seems certain, 
that he did not merely sail along Iceland (Thule), but stayed 
some time in the country, and conversed with the inhabitants. 
If so, this great inquirer must have asked questions enough 
about countries lying to the west ; and he may have heard 
much about Greenland, Markland, and Vinland. There 
must have been in the year 1477, in Iceland, many people 
who well recollected these countries. The last ship from 
Markland (Nova Scotia) and its vicinity, had returned to Ice- 
land, as I have stated, only about a hundred years before the 
visit of Columbus. It was only sixty-seven years before, that 
the last Icelandic ship had arrived from Greenland (1410). 
And even in the year 1445, an Icelander, Bjorn Thorleifson 
and his wife are said to have gone to Greenland, and to have 
stayed there a winter. Many persons in Iceland may have 
well recollected all this in the year 1477 ; and, moreover, the 
old writings about the expeditions of the Northmen toward 
the west, were then very well known and read by many 
persons in Iceland. Rafn and Finn Magnusen think it pos- 
sible, that Columbus, having landed in Hoalfjardareyri, at 
that time the principal port of Iceland, saw and spoke there 
with the learned Icelandic bishop, Magnus Eyolfson, of 
Skalholt, who is known to have been at that place in 1477. f 



* See this in Fernando Colombo, Vita dell' ammiraglioChristoplioro Co- 
lombo, etc., cap. 4. Venetia, 1571. 

• t See upon this, Rafn, Antiquitates Americanaj. Introduction, p. xxiv, 
note 1. A learned friend of mine, M. Sigurdaon, Royal Archivist in Kopen- 



118 EXPEDITIONS OF COLUMBUS PRIOR TO 1402. 

At all events there were sources enough, both books and 
persons, from which Columbus might, in the year 1477, have 
learned something about countries lying not very far to the 
west and south-west from Iceland ; and we may well be 
allowed to think, that by this information he was confirmed 
in his belief, of an easy and comparatively short navigation 
to the east of Asia. Baron Humboldt, who also believed 
that the exploring expedition of Columbus to Iceland had 
been proved,* thinks, notwithstanding, that it had little to do 
with the plans of the great navigator. He says that " Colum- 
bus might have known of the expeditions of the Northmen to 
Vinland or Drogeo quite well. All this information might 
not have appeared to him to be connected with his inten- 
tions. He searched the route to India and to the country of 
the spices."! I think the great German savant is not quite 
right in this. If his suggestion be true, we might well ask, 
why Columbus should have given himself the trouble of 
making an excursion to Ultima Thule. I think Columbus 
wished to know, whether our globe was really as lai'ge, and 
the ocean as broad, as cosmographers at this time made it ; 
or if there w :re not some countries in the back-ground of the 
ocean very near, and accessible by an easy navigation ; and, 
on this subject, the reports of the Icelanders might well have 
given him some light. If he only knew, and was able to 
prove to others, that the globe was small, the ocean not very 
broad, and that countries not far distant had been reported 

hagen, who lias favoreil my researches in a most kind and generous man- 
ner in many ways, and liy the most acceptable services, has proved to me, 
in a letter, or essay on the visit of Columbus to Iceland, that in Kopeu- 
hagen, among the learned of Denmark, nothing new has become known 
on this point, and that all the questions connected with it, rest, as before 
on mere probability. 

* He adopts the opinion of Finn MagTiusen. See Humboldt, Kritiache 
Untersuchnngen, vol. 3, p. 155. 

t See Humboldt, Kritische Untersuchnngen, vol. 3, p. 370. 



EXPEDITIONS OF COLUMBUS PRIOR TO 14'J2. 119 

or indicated from the Canaries, from tlic Azores, from 
Ireland and from Iceland, then he might make his choice 
among the different routes, and explore that region and 
latitude, to which he thought his land of the spices to be 
nearest. 

I think it, therefore, more correct to subscribe to the 
opinion of Finn Magnusen on this subject, who says : " If 
Columbus had been informed of the most important discove- 
ries of the Northmen, it is much easier to understand his 
firm belief in the possibility of the rediscovery of a western 
country, and his great zeal in carrying it out ; and we may 
conceive his subsequent discovery of America partly as a 
continuation and consequence of the transactions and achieve- 
ments of the old Scandinavians." This Danish historian 
adds this philosophical remark : " Long ago we have known, 
that the flite of mankind often han^s on the finest threads, 
the direction of which the historian scarcely can follow and 
exhibit ; but it is seldom that these threads, as in our case, 
can be observed after the lapse of three centuries."* 

The results of this chapter for our particular object may 
be summed up thus : 

1. The lively commerce and navigation between England 
and Iceland during the course of the fifteenth century, make 
it appear possible, that some English vessel may have been 
driven to the coasts of New England. 

2. The pretended expedition of the Polish navigator, John 
Scolnus, in the year 1476, if it Avas ever made, did not 
approach the coast of New England. 

3. Columbus may perhaps have received in Iceland infor- 
mation respecting the Northman expeditions to the south-west, 
and more particularly respecting those to Vinland and Dro- 

* See Finn Magnusen, Om de Engelskes Handel paa Island, in Nor- 
disk Tidsskrift for Oldkyndighed, 2 Bind, p. 166. KiiJbenhavn, 1833. 



120 EXPEDITIONS OF COLUMBUS PRIOR TO 1492. 

geo, under wliicli names the territory of the State of Maine 
was included ; and, accordingly, the fame of these countries 
may have contributed something to the furtherance of the 
greatest event of modern times, the discovery of America by 
Columbus. 



CHAPTER IV. 

EXPEDITIONS OF JOHN AND SEBASTIAN CABOT TO NORTH- 
■ EASTERN AMERICA IN THE YEARS 1497, 14i>8. 



1. VoTAGE OF John and Sebastian Cabot in the Year 

1497. 

Christopher Columbus may be said to have given 
directly, as well as indirectly, an impulse to western dis- 
covery in all the nations and to all the sovereigns of Western 
Europe. In Italy, in Portugal, and in Spain, he agitated 
personally for his scheme of an expedition to the west, and 
made it known in those countries. To France and England 
he had sent his brother Bartholomew, who, in the year 1488» 
laid before Henry VII., of England, his brother's plan; 
made for the king a map of the world, to show w"hich way his 
brother Christopher intended to sail ; * and in this manner, 
for the first time, drew his attention to the distant parts of 
the western ocean. Cautious Henry, however, did not at once 
profit by the occasion then offered. 

When Columbus, with the assistance of Ferdinand and 
Isabella, had succeeded in his enterprise, Henry no doubt 
felt regret, and might now have become eager to avail him- 
self of any opportunity to partake of the profits, which 
Spam expected to derive from western discoveries. " At 
Henry's court," as we are informed by good authority, 
*' there was great talke cf the undertaking of Columbus, 

* See oa this map Humboldt, Kritische Untersuchungen, vol. 2, p. 2T5. 
Berlin, 1852. 



122 THE VOYAGE OF JOHN CABOT, 1497. 

which was affirmed to be a thing more divine than humane; 
and this fame and report increased in the hearts of some of 
the king's subjects a great flame of desire to attempt some- 
thing ahke notable." * 

The king's subjects, particularly the mariners and mer- 
chants of Bristol, had been long vised to sail, as I have 
before related, to the north-west of the Atlantic, toward Ice- 
land and its vicinity. It appears probable, as I have already 
remarked, that these Bristol men, on their expeditions to the 
north-west, yearly repeated, should have obtained informa- 
tion about other countries lying to the west and south-west 
of Iceland. We unhappily know nearly nothing of the old 
traditions of the merchants and seafaring men of Bristol. 
This much, however, is certain, that there Avere in this port 
persons interested in such voyages, mariners accustomed to 
perform them, and vessels fitted for the service. It was, 
therefore, quite natural, that expeditions to the north-west 
should have originated in that place, and have found persons 
there ready to promote and aid them. 

Bristol, like other ports in the north of Europe had, among 
its inhabitants, Italian families ; and they, particularly those 
from Venice, being the most enlightened and experienced 
merchants of the time, were the leading men of this, as of 
other commercial communities ; and, like the old Venetian 
Zeni, of whom I have spoken above, put themselves at the 
head of all new maritime undertakings. 

Among those Venetians at Bristol was a certain Giovanni 
Caboto (or Cabota), a merchant, who, with his three sons, 
we do not know exactly at what time, but probably before 

* See Ramusio, Delle Navisationi et Viaggi, torn. 1, fol. 374, Valen- 
tia, 1013, where Sebastian Cabot is introJuced as relating this in a conver- 
sation with a gentleman of note (Galeazzo Bottrigari), the Pope's envoy 
in Spain. 



THE VOYAGE OF JOHN CABOT, 1407. 123 

1490, had migrated from Italy to England.* The said 
Caboto may have been among the first, "in whose hearts the 
fame and report of the successful undertaking of the Genoese 
Columbus increased a great flame of desire to undertake some- 
thing alike notable." The Venetians and Genoese, from 
time immemorial, had been rivals ; and a Genoese success 
would always create a Venetian jealousy ; as, in the same 
manner at a later time, a French undertaking was always 
followed or accompanied by a similar English enterprise. 

Among the three sons of John Cabot, the most prominent 
and talented was Sebastian, the second in age. From his 
early childhood this young man, like Columbus, had paid 
attention to the study of geography and navigation ; and had, 
at an early age, already acquired " some knowledrje of the 
sphere. He understood, by reason of the sphere, that if 
one should sail by way of the north-west, he Avould by a 
shorter track come to India, than that by which Columbus 
had sailed."! ^^^ short, Sebastian Cabot had a pretty good 
idea of the usefulness of what we, at present, call great circle- 
sailing. His father, John Cabot, had probably the same 
idea ; nay, in this respect he may have been the instructor of 
his son. Probably both father and son, each talented and 
well instructed, worked out together their plan for a north- 
west passage, and for a route from England in the most dh'ect 
line to " Kathay " and the oriental world. 

The section of the great circle, or the most direct line from 

* If it is true, as Eileii says, that Sebastian Cabot, according to his own 
statement, was born in Bristol, liis fatlier mustliave been settled there 
before the year 1477, the i)robable time of his son's birth. [But Contarini, 
the Venetian ambassador at the Court of Charles V., says, tliat Sebastian 
Cabot told him that he was born in Venice; which other circumstances 
confirm. — Ed.] 

t This he is reported to have stated himself in the conversation men- 
tioned in Ramusio, 1. c. 



124 THE VOYAGE OF JOHN CABOT, 1497. 

England to China and Japan, the countries for which the 
Cabots planned their expedition,* would pass to the north of 
Norway, along the northern shore of Siberia, and through 
Behring's Strait into the Pacific Ocean. And so it appears, 
that the Cabots, if they had "understood the sphere" quite 
right, ought to have planned an expedition for a north-east, 
instead of a north-west passage, as they actually did. But 
we must here bear in mind, that the Cabots, like all their 
contemporaries, believed Asia to stretch much further toward 
the east than it really does. Even if they did not agree with 
Columbus in the belief, that "Espaiiola" (St. Domingo) was 
Japan, which may be doubted ; still they must have hoped, 
that they might hit upon Kathay, at least not very far from 
the longitude of the islands discovered by Columbus, where 
Martin Behaim, on his globe, and probably also Bartholomew 
Columbus on his " map of the world, presented to King 
Henry," had laid them down, in about a central line of 
what we now call the Pacific Ocean. And to this, region 
"a great circle," or the shortest route, conducts from England 
a little to the west of the North Pole ; and a voyage to Ice- 
land, and further in that direction, would not fall far out of 
their way. It was not until a long time after, about the 
middle of the sixteenth century, when it had been generally 
recognized and acknowledged, that China and the east of 
Asia lay much further south-west, that Sebastian Cabot pro- 
posed and tried a north-eastern passage, very reasonably 
thinking, that Kathay might be much sooner reached by the 
Siberian route. 

If the Cabots, through their Icelandic connections, had 
heard any thing of countries lying to the south-west of 
Iceland, this may have attracted them still more to the north- 

*That, from the beginning of their expedition, they had Kathay ilSTorth- 
ern China) in view, is said by Sebastian Cabot himself in Ramusio, 1. c. 



THE VOYAGE OF JOHN CABOT, 1497. 125 

west. For, either they must have believed that these coun- 
> tries, once known to the Nortlimen, were already a part of 
the Indies and Kathay ; or, at least, that being islands, they 
might serve as intermediate stations on the route to those 
countries, according to the views which had induced Toscanelli 
to point out to Columbus the islands of " Antilia," " St. Bran- 
dan," and others, and to recommend them to him as stations 
for reposing and refitting on his long voyage to the Indies. 

Before laying their scheme of a north-western voyage to 
Kathay before Henry VII., the Cabots appear to have 
induced their Bristol friends to make some preliminaiy voy- 
ages to the west, or some attempts to find out new countries 
in that direction. " The people of Bristol have for the last 
seven years," says Don Pedro de Ayala, a Spanish envoy 
in England, in a letter to his sovereigns, Ferdinand and Isa- 
bella, dated July 25, 1498, "sent out every year two, three, 
or four light ships (caravelas) in search of the islands of 
Brazil and the Seven Cities, according to the fancy of that 
Italian (John Cabot)."* The " seven years," literally taken, 
would carry us back beyond the time of the first voyage of 
Columbus in 1402. But the Spanish envoy probably did not 
intend to fix his date very accurately, and we may, therefore, 
suppose, that he only meant to say "a number of years ago." 
The islands of the Seven Cities and of Brazil Avere probably 
depicted on the map which Bartholomew Cokimbus presented 
to Henry in 1488, in the same manner that they had been 
before on the map of Toscanelli, and afterwards on the map of 
Behaim. They may, therefore, after 1488, have been a sub- 
ject of conversation in England ; and it is not improbable, 

* See this recently discovered lettei", deciphered and translated by G. A. 
Bergenroth, printed in his Calendar of Spanish State Papers, vol. 1, p. 177, 
and copied in the Proceedings of the American Antiquarian Society, 
Oct. 21, 18G5, p. 25. Cambridge, 1866. 



126 THE VOYAGE OF JOHN CABOT, 1497. 

tliat John Cabot may have induced the Bristol men to make 
a search after tliem ; as the Portuguese, after having heard the 
views of Columbus, made an unsuccessful search in a west- 
ern direction. 

Some learned geographers have even thought, that the 
Cabots themselves made such a preliminary voyage to the 
new Avorld as early as in the year 1494 ; and that, on this voy- 
age, and not as is usually supposed on that of 1497, they 
first discovered the shores of the North American continent. 
They were induced to think so, principally, by a certain map 
of tlie world, which has been ascribed to Sebastian Cabot ; 
which has been recently found in Germany ; and which gives 
the above-mentioned year as the date of the great discovery. 

This map of the world, according to an inscription con- 
tained on it, was engraved in the year 1544. It is a compila- 
tion of all the discoveries made up to that year, and of the 
then current geography of the entire world. It contains very 
few hints on the original discoveries of the Cabots. I shall 
treat of this map and examine it, after having spoken of the 
subsequent discoveries in the first half of the sixteenth cen- 
tury. I will then state the reasons why I do not think very 
highly of this document, and bring forward all my doubts 
about this so-called discovery of the continent of America, in 
the year 1494.* I will only state now that I have not been 
able to convince myself of the reality of such a voyage, and 
that I omit it altogether. 

It was in the year 1495, that the Cabots laid their great 
scheme of a north-western expedition to Kathay before King 
Henry, who readily gave his assent to their plan, and, in their 
favor, issued a patent and commission dated March 5, 1496. 

This patent gave permission to John Cabot and his three 

* See Appendage 4 to Chapter IX. of this volume. 



THE VOYAGE OF JOHN CABOT, 1407. 127 

sons, Lewis, Sebastian, and Sancius, to sail with five ships, 
" under the royal banners and ensigns to all parts, countries, 
and seas of the east, of the west, and of the north, and to 
seek out and discover whatsoever isles, countries, regions, and 
provinces, in what part of the world soever they might be, 
which before this time had been unknown to Christians." 
The king gave them further license " to set up the royal 
banners and ensigns in the countries, places, or mainland 
newly found by them, and to conquer, occupy, and possess 
them, as his vassals and lieutenants."* 

This patent, of the contents of which we give here only 
what may be called the naval instructions with respect to the 
route and aim of the voyage, is drawn in the most vague and 
general terms. We find in it no allusion Avhatever to 
Kathay or a north-west passage. Of all the regions of the 
world to Avhich the voyage might be directed, the south only 
is excluded ; probably because it was considered as belonging 
already to Spain, and Portugal, and therefore closed by 
them to Enghsh discoverers. The north, west, and east 
are mentioned. That the north and west were particularly 
intended, we learn from the statements of Sebastian Cabot 
himself, that a voyage to Kathay by a northern route, was 
his and his father's, and probably also the king's intention. 

According to this patent, the patentees had to arm and fur- 
nish their vessels, to buy victuals, and to provide all other 
things necessary for the expedition at their own cost. Henry 
granted them nothing but his royal authority and protection, 
and a passport to foreign powers. 

This was probably the reason that they were not able to 
make use of the rqyal permission of March, 1496, until the 

* See this patent in Hakluyt's Divers Voyages, edited by the Hack- 
luyt Society, p. 19. London, 18(50. [It is in Latin, and is also copied by 
Hazard, " Historical Collections," vol. 1, p. 9.— Ed.] 



128 THE VOYAGE OF JOHN CABOT, 1497. 

year 1497. To raise the necessary funds, to fit out their ves- 
sels, to procure the goods which would be suitable for the 
market in Kathay, with which country they hoped to com- 
mence a profitable traffic, detained them for more than a year. 

At last they sailed from Bristol in the spring of 1497. 
And as all the best authorities on this voyage say that they 
were only a little more than three months absent, and make 
them return in the beginning of August, their departure 
must have taken place in the early part of May. 

It is said by some authorities, that at the outset they had 
four vessels, and that one of them was called the " Matthew," 
being the Admiral's ship,«having the commander on board. 
How many of these ships accompanied the expedition to the 
end^ is not clear ; at any rate, the " Matthew " was the vessel 
which first touched our American shores, and the only one, 
as far as is known, which returned in safety to Bristol. 

There can be no doubt that the commander of the expedi- 
tion was John Cabot, the father ; and tha*, consequently, to 
him is due the discovery of the continent of North America 
effected on this voyage. In the grant from the king above 
quoted, John Cabot is the principal patentee ; the sons are 
mentioned only collectively, and as subordinate companions 
of the father. Another patent was granted by the king in 
the year following the voyage of 1497, and is exclusively 
directed to John Cabot. It asserts quite clearly, " that he, 
by the commandment of the king, had found the new-discov- 
ered lands." Notwithstanding this direct evidence, a modern 
writer, Mr. Biddle (in a work very ingenious, but somewhat 
too subtle and acute, where he makes the son Sebastian his 
favorite' and hero), for certain reasons has tried to render it 
doubtful, whether John Cabot commanded this expedition, or 
even accompanied it. In this he has followed the authority of 
some early writers, and has given the command, with the 



THE VOYAGE OF JOHN CABOT, 1497. 129 

whole success and honor of the undertaking, to the yoiing 
son, Sebastian.* Tliat John Cabot liad come to England " to 
follow the trade of merchandise," can be no decisive objec- 
tion against his ventiiring to conduct a naval expedition in 
person, and of course with the assistance of expert pilots 
and marinei's. We know very little of John Cabot's former 
life. He may have been a merchant, and yet an expert navi- 
gator. At all times, particularly in that of the Cabots, both 
occupations were followed by the same individuals. Before 
the sixteenth century, it was usual for merchants to accom- 
pany or conduct their own commercial expeditions. Amerigo 
Vespucci was a clerk in a mercantile house, and also a great 
traveler, and a cosmographer and astronomer. In Spain and 
Portugal, merchants, litentiates, gi'aduates of the Universi- 
ties, and doctors, became not only sailors and discoverers, but 
also military and naval commanders and conquerors. 

Sebastian Cabot, the son, whom this author has endeavored 
to substitute in the place of the father, was, at the beginning 
of the year 1497, when the expedition sailed, perhaps only 
nineteen, or at most, twenty years old, having been born, 
according to Humboldt, in the year 1477-1 At this period of 
his life he may have been an " enthusiastic geographer," but 
certainly he cannot have been an experienced and " accom- 
plished "^i navigator, fit for the command of a fleet. There 
is probably no case on record, of a young man of nineteen or 
twenty years having been put at once at the head of an im- 
portant expedition of discovery to unknown and far distant 
regions, particularly by a king like Henry VII, who was no 
enthusiast, and who is described as having been "of a wary, 
cautious, most circumspective, and quiete disposition." 

* See Biddle's Memoir of Sebastian Cabot, p. 42 seq. London, 1832. 
t See Humboldt, Kritische Untersuchungen, vol. 2, p. 445. 
J So he is called at this period of his life by Biddle, 1. c. p. 51. 
9 



130 THE VOYAGE OF JOHN CABOT, 1497. 

That in later times, several Spanish and other authors 
should sometimes have overlooked the father, John, and that 
all merit should have been given to the son, Sebastian, is 
easily accounted for. The fotlier disappeared — probably 
died — soon after his return from this expedition. But the 
son lived for more than sixty years afterwards, became a 
celebrated navigator and cosmographer, and altogether an 
important person, employed in the service of the kings of 
England and Spain. His fame in this manner eclipsed that 
of his father, and the results and merits of the whole expedi- 
tion were, by several old historians, attributed wholly to him, 
whilst the father, John, was forgotten, particularly in Spain, 
where he never had been present.* 



* [The following extract from tlie Sforza archives of Milan, under date 
of 1487, confirms Dr. Kohl's A'iew on this subject. "News received this 
morning from England by letters dated the 24th of August." . . . "Also 
Bome months ago, his Majesty sent out a Venetian, who is a very good 
mariner (John Cabot), and has good skill in discovering new islands, and 
he has returned safe, and has found two very large and fertile new islands; 
having, likewise, discovered the Seven Cities, four hundred leagues from 
England, on the western passage." 

The letter of Pas(iualigo, found in the archives of Venice, dated August 
23,1497, also furnishes direct evidence of this fact; after sj^eaking of his 
return from the great discovery, he says: " The king has given him money 
wherewith to amuse himself till then" (the next spring), "and he is now 
at Bristol with bis wife, who is also Venetian, and with his sons; his name 
is Zuan Cabot, who is styled the Great Admiral," etc. This letter is dated 
London, 23d August, 1497, and is written in Italian. These documents 
would seem to put at rest the questions both of the command and the time 
of this fii'st expedition of discovery. Yet it is suprising, that Hakluyt 
who was almost a contemporary of Sebastian Cabot, having been born five 
or six years before Cabot's death, and who was familiar with the leading 
adventurers and discoverers of the day, and jirobably better acquainted 
with the various voyages which had been undertaken than any other man 
of his time, should have persisted to the last in asserting, that the first 
Cabot voyage was performed in 1496, and by Sebastian Cabot. In his 
recently discovered and unpublished treatise of 1584, in which he vehe- 
mently appeals to the English government to engage in colonization, he 



THE VOYAGE OF JOHN CABOT, 1497. 131 

Of the other persons, pilots, masters of vessels, and other 
members of this expedition, we hear scarcely anything with 
certainty, though we might gather some names as probably 
belonging to persons who went Avith the Cabots. Among 
them there may have been many Bristol mariners, acquainted 
with the navigation of the Norihern Ocean, at least as far as 
the seas of Iceland. The Cabots would probably have tried 
to attract into their service also, some Portuguese and Spanish 
sailors, accustomed to the navigation of the Atlantic Ocean. 

Relative to the course which the Cabots followed on this 
voyage we have no definite information. Sebastian Cabot 
appears to have written the events of this voyage, as well as of 
the other voyages performed during his long life ; but unhap- 
pily these precious writings are lost to us. How they disap- 
peared is uncertain.* With respect to all the particulars of 
the vo3^ages of the Cabots we are, therefore, left to proba- 
bilities and to a few scattered hints and notices. 

From the intention which the Cabots had to follow as near 
as possible the shortest line from England to Cathay, that is 
to say, a line which passed near the North Pole, we should 
think, that, in starting from England, they would have sailed 
in nearly a northern direction. If they knew nothing of 

more than once affirms, that the first discovery was made in 1496, and by 
Sebastian Cabot. He says, "A great part of the continent, as well as of 
the islands, was first discovered for the King of England, by Sebastian 
Gabote, an Englishman, born in Bristow, son of John Gabote, in 1496." 
Again he says, "Nay, more, Gabote discovered this large tract of firme 
land two j'Cars before Columbus ever saWany part of the continent. . . . 
Columbus first saw the firme lande August 1, 1498, but Gabote made hia 
great discovery in 1496." The very interesting and instructive Ms. of Hak- 
luyt, above referred to, which was brought to light early in 1868, through 
the exertions of the Rev. Dr. Woods, a member of the Maine Historical 
Society, then making researches in Europe, will be printed, for the first 
time, in a volume of this Society's Transactions, next succeeding the 
present, within a few months. — Ed.1 

* See upon this point, Biddle's Memoir, p. 221. 



132 THE VOYAGE OF JOHN CABOT, 1497. 

Greenland and of the ereat ice-barrier along the " Mare 
congelatum," we should expect to find them on the old beaten 
track of the Bristol men to Iceland, or even on a direct line 
to the Pole. But, probably, the Bristol men, and also the 
Cabots Avho had conversed with them, were sufficiently 
acquainted with the dangers of the ice surrounding Iceland 
and the Pole. It is not less probable, that, from their long 
intercourse with the Northmen and Icelanders, they knew 
something of that great ice-locked east coast of Greenland, 
which, as a long barrier, lies stretched out to the north-west 
and south-west of Iceland ; and that it would be useless to 
try that way for a passage to Asia. The Icelanders may 
have acquainted them with their old " Gunningagap," that 
broad passage at the south and west of Greenland, which we 
call Davis' Strait. It is for these reasons, no doubt, that we 
do not find the Cabots exactly on ihe shortest northern route 
to Cathay, but much to the west of it, on the shores of New- 
foundland and Labrador ; for it was on the coast of one of 
these countries, certainly, that their first landfall was made. 

In former times it was usually supposed, that the Cabots 
made their landfall near some cape of the island of New- 
foundland. But nearly the whole of Newfoundland is in a 
much more southern latitude than Bristol. And if their 
landfall had been made there, they either could not have 
taken from Bristol a north-western route, as it was their 
intention to do, or they must have been driven from this 
route by northerly wind§ A^ery much to the south. This is 
one of the reasons which should induce us to expect a more 
northern point for the first landfall of the Cabots. 

In the examination of this question, Mr. Biddle* has come 
to the conclusion, that this landfall of the Cabots on the coast 
of the North American continent, or what they called- their 

* See Biddle's Memoir, p. 52 seq. 



THE VOYAGE OF JOHN CABOT, 1497. 133 

" Prima vista" (the first country seen), must be found on the 
coast of Labrador in 56° or 58° north latitude. In tliis lati- 
tude he thinks the Cabots for the first time came in sight of 
the continent of North America, on the 24th of June, 1497. 
And after him. Baron Humboldt and several other dis- 
tinguished authors have adopted this latitude for Cabot's 
landfall. 

In an inscription contained on an old map of the world, 
engraved in the year 1549, the authorship of which is ascribed 
to Sebastian Cabot, the country surrounding this landfall is 
described as being very sterile, but full of wild animals, and 
particularly having an abundance of white bears.* These 
white bears of the country, as Sebastian Cabot himself once 
told his Spanish friend, Peter Martyr, used to catch with 
their paws the fish, which were their favorite food.f The 
white bears, consequently, were quite at home in the country 
which the Cabots saw on the 24th of June, 1497. This 
affrees much better with the coast of Labrador than with that 
of Newfoundland, to which the white bears very seldom, if 
ever, come down. 

Just as unfavorable a description of the country of their 
landfall is given in the above-quoted letter of the Venetian 
Pasqualigo, where it is said, that the Cabots did not meet 
any human being in the country which they discovered in 
1497. This could certainly happen only on the coast of 
Labrador, thinly inhabited by Esquimaux, and not in any of 
the more southern countries. 

Moreover, the author of the above-quoted map of the 
world, supposed to have been Sebastian Cabot, says in an 
inscription, that he and his father found an island opposite the 

* See this inscription, amongst others, printed in Nathanis Chytraei 
Variorum Itinerum Delicise, p. 787. Herbornae, 1594. 

t See Peter Martyr, De orbe Novo, p. 533. Parisiis, 1587. 



134 THE VOYAGE OF JOHN CABOT, 1497. 

country of their landfall, to which they gave the name St. 
John, in consideration of the name of the saint, on whose 
day it was discovered. We find on several old maps, for 
instance, on that of the famous Belgian geographer, Orte- 
lius, of the year 1570, depicted in this latitude an island 
called "St. John's" (or S. Juan). Ortelius says, that he 
had seen an engraved map of the world, made by Cabot, and 
he may iuive taken that island from this map. 

All these considerations incline us to believe, that Biddle 
and Humboldt and their followers were right in putting 
down the first landfall of the Cabots, and their "prima 
vista" on the coast of Labrador in the high latitude of about 
56° or 58° N. 

Against this view has been brought forward, as a decisive 
testimony, that map of the world, engraved in the year 1544, 
ascribed to Sebastian Cabot, which was lately discovered in 
Germany, of which I have already stated, that it contained, 
instead of the year 1497, the year 1494, as the date of the 
first discovery. This map gives for the landfall, instead of 
the coast of Labrador, a much more southern country, 
namely, the coast of Cape Breton Island ; and, moreover, 
makes Cabot's " Island St. John " to be our present Prince 
Edward Island. I shall examine this point and the other 
contents of that map after I have spoken of the subsequent 
discoveries in the Gulf of St. Lawrence. I will only state 
here, that I am not satisfied with the correctness of the posi- 
tion given on this map to the "Prima Vista." With respect 
to my reasons for this view, I refer the reader to my essay on 
this map, which he will find in Appendage No. 4 to Chapter 
IX., of this volume. 

Whether the Cabots, from their landfall on the coast of 
Labrador in 1497, sailed still further north, and how far, we 
do not know. We are also uncertain on the question, how 



VOYAGE OF SEBASTIAN CABOT IN 1498. 135 

far from their landfall they went to the south. We hear only, 
that they sailed along the coast about three hundred leagues.* 
As they had intended to sail to the north-west, and had 
turned their backs on the south, we should be inclined to 
measure these "three hundred leagues," for the greater pai't 
at least, along the coast of Labrador north of their landfall. 
Some part of it, however, may be located to the south of 
their landfall, along the southern coast of Labrador and New- 
foundland, in sight of wlijch they may have come on their 
homeward route, after having been baffled by ice in the north. 
It appears to me probable, however, that the principal dis- 
covery of the island of Newfoundland by the Cabots was not 
made on this first voyage, but on the second expedition, in 
1498, hereafter considered. 

Having come in sight of land in the far west, which they 
believed to be a part of Eastern Asia, having seen more 
water in the north, and having ascertained, at least for some 
distance, the trending of the coast, they were eager to bring 
this interesting news, as quickly as possible, home to Eng- 
land. The little vessel, the " Matthew," arrived in Bristol 
on some day in the early part of August, 1497.t 

2. Voyage of Sebastian Cabot ix 1498. 

John Cabot, on his return in the month of August, 1497, 
was received in England with great joy, because he was said 
to have discovered " the island of the Seven Cities," and 



* This is said in the letter of L. Pasqualigo, 1. c. 

t This becomes pretty certain, at first, from an entry in the privy-purse 
accounts of Henry VII, which is dated " August 10, 1497," and in which 
the king says, "that he has given a reward of ten pounds to hym, that 
found the new Isle;" and, secondly, from the above-quoted letter of the 
Venetian Lorenzo Pasqualigo, who, under the date, " London, 23d August, 
1497," announces to his brothers in Venice the return of John Cabot from 
hia voyage of discovery. 



136 VOYAGE OF SEBASTIAN CABOT IN 1498. 

" the country of the Great Chan " (the emperor of Chma), 
or, at least, a part of it ; and this was probably, also, the 
opinion of the Cabots themselves,* 

Henry himself was also filled with hope and confidence ; 
and issued, in favor of John Cabot, another patent or license, 
dated February 3, 1498, in which he gave him permission to 
take, at his pleasure, in the king's name, six English vessels, in 
any port of the realm of England, " and them convey and 
lead to the land and iles, of late found by the said John in 
our name and by our commandment ; paying for them and 
every of them, as and if we should, in our own cause pay, 
and none otherwise."! The son of John (^abot, Sebastian, 
is not mentioned in this patent, as he had been in that of 1496. 
Yet he alone profited by it. For the father is not again men- 
tioned in connection with the voyage ; for what reason, is not 
disclosed. It is supposed that he died soon after the grant 
was made. 

Sebastian was now, if Humboldt's supposition is true that 
he was born in 1477, a young man of about twenty or twenty- 
one years of age. And as he had become proficient in 
astronomy and mathematics, and had gained naval expe- 
rience in the voyage he had made in company with his 
father ; and as he knew better than any one else his father's 
views, and also the position of the newly discovered regions, 
he may now have well appeared to Henry, as a fit person for 
the command of another expedition to the north-west. 

Two ships, manned with three hundred mariners and vol- 
unteers, were ready for him early in the spring of 1498 ; 
and he sailed with them from Bristol, probably in the begin- 
ning of the month of May. 

* See this described in the above-quoted letter of Lorenzo Pasqualigo, 
1. c. p. 20. 

t See the patent in Biddle's Memoir of Sebastian Cabot, p. 76. 



VOYAGE OF SEBASTIAN CABOT IN 1498. 137 

We have no certain information regarding his route. But 
he appears to have directed his course again to the country 
which he had seen the year before on the voyage with his 
father, our present Labrador.* He sailed along the coast of 
this country so far north, that, even in the month of July, he 
encountered much ice. Observing, at the same time, to his 
great displeasure, that the coast was trending to the east,f he 
resolved to give up a further advance to the north, and 
returned in a southern direction. 

The northern latitude which Cabot had now reached, has 
been put down variously in the different notices of this 
voyage. In Ramusio, the latitude 56° north is given. But 
this cannot be true, because it is said in the same passage of 
Ramusip which mentions this latitude, that Cabot, finding in 
the highest latitude reached by him the coast turning to 
the east, • in despair changed his course to the south ; and 
because we now know, that in the said latitude of 56° N., 
the coast of Labrador does not turn toward the east. 

The Spanish historian, Gomara, a contemporary of Cabot, 
and living with him in Spain, and who, consequently, may 
have known him personally, says that the ice encountered 
by Cabot in the month of July, and which hindered him 
from sailing further north, occurred in 58° north latitude. 
" Cabot himself," adds Gomara, " says that it was much 
more."$ 

As "Cabot himself" is a much better authority on the 
point in question, than the incredulous Gomara, we must 

* See the report which Sebastian Cabot himself communicated in a 
conversation with Peter Martyr, De Orbs novo, p. 232. Parisiis, 1587- 
See also Ramusio, Delle navigationi et viaggi, torn. 1, fol. 374. Vene- 
tiis, 1613. 

tThis turning of the coast to the east, is mentioned in Ramusio, vol. 1, 
fol. 374, as having been observed on Cabot's expedition in the year 1498. 

t See Gomara, Historia de las Indias, fol. 20, 1. c. Sarago.ssa, 1553. 



138 VOYAGE OF SEBASTIAN CABOT IN 1498. 

think that he reached a higher latitude than 58° N., even 
according to Gomara's own statement. 

The Portuguese Galvano, also one of the original and con- 
temporary authorities on Cabot's voyage of 1498, says, that 
having reached 60° north latitude, he and his men found the 
air very cold, and great islands of ice, and from thence putting 
about and finding the land to turn eastward, they trended 
along by it, to ' see if it passed on the other side. Then 
they sailed back again to the south.* From this report of 
Galvano it appears, that he believed that Cabot sailed much 
beyond 60° north latitude, and also along a tract of country 
toward the east. 

As Cabot in 1498, without doubt, sailed along the coast of 
Labrador and the western shores of Davis' Strait, and as we 
have there no other long turn-off coast to the east beyond 60° 
north latitude, but the great peninsula of Cumberland, it 
becomes very probable, from Galvano, that he reached the 
shores of this peninsula in 672° north latitude, and that, 
despairing of finding a passage, he there turned to the south. 
In adopting this opinion, which was also that of Humboldt,f 
we suppose that Cabot must have overlooked the compara- 
tively narrow entrance of Hudson's Strait, or that he found 
it obstructed by ice. 

In his encounter and struggle with the ice in this high lati- 
tude he probably lost a great part of his men ; J and his crew 
may have been opposed to a further advance toward the 
north, though the young commander himself appears to have 

* See this in Galvano, The Discoveries of the World, edited by the Hak- 
luyt Society, p. 88. London, 1601. 

t See Humboldt, Kritische Untersuchungen, vol. 2, page 447. Berlin, 
1852 

} See upon this point D'Avezac in Bulletin de la Society de GeograpMe, 
Aoiit et Septembre, 1857, p. 276. 



VOYAGE OF SEBASTIAN CABOT IN 1498. 139 

been disposed to continue still furtliex* the search in that 
direction.* 

From this northern terminus Cabot retraced his course 
southerly along the coast of Labrador and Newfoundland. At 
Newfoundland, he probably came to anchor in some port, and 
refreshed his men, and refitted his vessels after their arctic 
hardships. The harbors of Newfoundland have always been 
stations of i-efuge and for the refitting of vessels coming from 
the north. Perhaps Cabot had seen, on the voyage with his 
father, the abundance of fish on these coasts, which was so 
great, that the ships were said to have been stopped by their 
numberless swarms. He probably Avas the first fisherman on 
the banks or shores of Newfoundland, which through him 
became famous in Europe. 

Sailing from Newfoundland south-west, he kept the coast 
in view as much as possible, on his right side, " always with 
the intent to find a passage and open water to India. "f 

The more he proceeded to the south, the more he deviated 
from his " shortest way" along the North Pole. But, having 
been bafiled in the north, he probably thought, that even a 
longer way to the Indies would be better than no way at all. 
It is not likely, that, having failed to find this passage in the 
high north, he would have returned at once, in despair, to 
England. According to his notions of the configuration of 
the shores and countries in the western recesses of the ocean, 
he was, no doubt, convinced, that saihng south he would very 

* See upon this Ramusio in his preface to the third volume of his great 
,work (Edit. Venetia, 1556), fol. 4, where he appears to me to speak of this 
voyage made at the command of Henry VII, in 1498, though others have 
believed, that he speaks of some other voyage. 

t Ramusio, vol. 1, fol. 374, Venetia, IGIIJ, where Cabot himself is made to 
say, " me ne tornai a dietro a riconoscere anchora a la detta costa dalla 
parte verso 1' equinottiale, sempre con intentione di trovar passagio alls 
ludie." 



140 VOYAGE OF SEBASTIAN CABOT IN 1498. 

soon find water broadly opening toward China. Such open 
waters Avere depicted on all the globes and maps which Cabot 
would have consulted, on the maps of Toscanelli, Bartholo- 
mew Columbus, Behaim, and other geographers. Neither 
Cabot nor any one else, at that time, had the slightest expecta- 
tion of meeting, on a western route, an immense continent 
other than that of Asia. He expected, at every stage, to see 
the end of Newfoundland, and to find, not merely a narrow 
strait, but the vast Western Ocean itself. This, perhaps, 
was the reason, that, on this coasting voyage, he appears not 
to have taken notice of the comparatively narrow entrance 
to the Gulf of St. Lawrence. If he observed something of 
it, he may not have thought it worth his while to explore it, 
expecting to find a more open passage further south. 

After having sailed along the south-east of Newfoundland, 
and passed the entrance of the Gulf of St. Lawrence, he 
must have come in sight of the coast of Nova Scotia. At 
the south-eastern end of this peninsula he would see the coast 
abruptly falling off to the west and north-west ; and, of 
course, must have followed this trending of the shore-hne in 
the direction of his intended route. It is, therefore, very 
probable, that he entered with good hope the broad Gulf of 
Maine, and came to and sailed along its coast. 

The entire elevated coast of Maine is seen at a great dis- 
tance from the ocean. This view, no doubt, convinced him, 
that there could be no broad water in that direction. He 
therefore passed speedily on, losing no time in minute explora- 
tion. We must always keep in mind, that a detailed exami- 
nation could not have entered into the designs of Cabot. In 
his expectation of finding a broad ocean to the west, such as 
was portrayed on the maps of his time, he, of course, must 
have been disposed to neglect narrower inlets, and even such 
as were only moderately broad. As long as he saw the con- 



VOYAGE OF SEBASTIAN CABOT IN 1498. 141 

tinuous line of coast, he went onward further to the south- 
west, quite sure that the great ocean, presented on the maps 
as lying eastward of China, must soon make its appearance. 

It is, however, probable, that, in the southern parts of the 
Gulf of Maine, he approached the coast somewhat nearer, 
because they are there lower, and, from a distance, not so 
easily recognized as being land-locked. Thus he may have 
been caught in this cut de sac of Cape Cod Bay, entering it for 
the purpose of looking for a passage. But he was beaten 
back by the shores, turning round to the east, and was forced 
to circumnavigate the long hook of the cape. The hopes, 
with which he had been filled at the south-eastern extremity 
of Nova Scotia (Cape Sable), were now lowered again, and 
that disagreeable hook of Cape Cod, of so vmusnal a shape, 
must have impressed itself on his memory, and been delin- 
eated on his chart. In the Appendage to this chapter, where 
I shall give what has come down to us of Cabot's chart, and 
examine it, I shall have occasion to point out upon it certain 
coast-lines which appear to me to represent Cape Cod and the 
Gulf of Maine, and, consequently, to support the view, that 
Cabot visited both these objects of the coast and reconnoi- 
tered them ; an opinion which I think I have made somewhat 
probable. 

After having rounded Cape Cod, he must have felt fresh 
hope. He saw a coast running to the west and open water 
before him in that direction. It is therefore nearly certain, 
that he entered somewhat that broad gulf, in the interior 
corner of which lies the harbor of New York. I say "some- 
what;" for it is not at all necessary to suppose, that Cabot 
made a thorough search of this gulf, to convince himself of 
its beincr land-locked. The soundings were sufficient to make 
this known to him. The soundino;s in that gulf and along 
the whole coast to the south of New York, are very low. At 



142 VOYAGE OF SEBASTIAN CABOT IN 1498. 

a distance of a hundred miles from the coast, they begin to 
decrease from sixty fathoms to twenty and ten, and still less. 
Cabot, of course, was constantly sounding ; the sounding-lead 
at that time being one of the principal instruments for 
detecting the approach to land. They would enter this gulf 
only so far as it was necessary for them to be convinced, that 
the coast was near. The question, therefore, which has been 
raised, whether Cabot saw any thing of New York harbor,* 
cannot be answered with any degree of certainty. 

From a statement contained in the work of Peter Martyr 
it appears, however, certain, that Cabot landed on some 
places of the coast along which he sailed. This author, 
relatino; a conversation which he had with his friend Cabot, 
on the subject of his voyage of 1498, says, that Cabot told 
him " he had found, on most of the places, copper or brass 
among the aborigines" (orichalcum in plerisque locis se vidisse 
apud incolas praedicat).f From another authority we learn, 
that he captured some of these aborigines and brought 
them to England, where they lived and were seen a few 
years after his return, by the English chronicler, Robert 
Fabyan.| It is not stated at what place he captured those 
Indians ; but it was not customary with the navigators of that 
time to take on board the Indians, until near the time pf their 
leaving the country. Cabot's Indians, therefore, were proba- 
bly captured on some shore south of New York harbor. At 
all events, from both the statements alluded to, it becomes 
highly probable, that this great discoverer put his feet on 
the shores of the present United States, which, in several 
respects, it is not uninteresting to know. 

♦For instance, by Rev. Mr. Miller in bis discourse on tbe discovery of 
New York barbor in New York Historical Collections, vol. l,p. 23. 

t Peter Martyr, De orbe Novo, Dec. 3, cap. 6. 

I See tbe quotation from Fabyau's cbronicle in Hakluyt, vol. 3, p. 31. 
Ed. London, 1810. 



VOYAGE OF SEBASTIAN CABOT IN 1498. 143 

When beyond the vicinity of New York Cabot saw the 
coast taking a more southern turn, and holding on in this 
direction, his hopes for a large and distant run to the west, 
must have entirely vanished ; and his provisions also falling 
short, and apprehending that he was approaching the Spanish 
possessions, he now entered on his homeward voyage. 

The southern terminus of his voyage is pretty well ascer- 
tained. He himself informed his friend, Peter Martyr, that 
he went as far south as about the latitude of the Strait of 
Gibraltar,* that is to say, about 36° north latitude, which is 
near that of Cape Hatteras. 

Peter Martyr adds the following : " He sailed so far to the 
west, that he had the island of Cuba on his left hand, nearly 
in the same degree of longitude." This additional remark, 
some authors have interpreted as if he had intended to cor- 
rect himself, and to add, that Cabot had sailed along the 
entire coast of the United States down to Cape Florida ; 
where, at last, he had the island of Cuba quite near to his 
larboard side. But it is evident, that neither Peter Martyr 
nor Cabot intended by this statement to determine anything 
about his latitude. That Avas fixed at the latitude of the 
Strait of Gibraltar. Cuba was mentioned only to determine 
the longitude. The east coast of North America, in 36° 
north latitude, is in about the longitude of the eastern part of 
the island of Cuba : and a navijiator, who sails alono; that 
coast with the idea of penetrating to the west, may well say, 
that he had the island of Cuba on the left, — but, of course, 
at a great distance. 

At the time Cabot made the above statement to Peter 
Martyr, which was before the year 1515,f the island of Cuba 

* See Peter Martyr, 1. c. 

t Peter Martyr's record of his conversation "with Cabot was written in 
1515; but the conversation itself must have taken place before, between 
1512 and 1515. 



144 VOYAGE OF SEBASTIAN CABOT IN 1498. 

was the only place north of Hlspaniola (St. Domingo) and 
the other West Indian islands, of which the position was 
known with certainty. It was therefore natural for Cabot, 
to use this island in order to make his longitude intelligible. 
It was the more natural, because Cabot, in the latitude of the 
Strait of Gibraltar, must have thought himself much nearer 
to the island of Cuba than he really was. At the time of 
his voyage — and even much later — that island was laid down 
on the charts several deo-rees too far north. 

From this I consider it clear, that Cabot saw nothing of 
our coast to the south of Cape Hatteras. 

On the direction of his homeward track from the shores of 
the United States to England, the short original reports of 
his voyage state nothing. The nearest route to England was 
running on the same track on which he had come out, that 
is to say, back along the coasts of New York, New England, 
Nova Scotia, and Newfoundland. And, according to what 
we have stated above on his knowledge of the globe, and 
the shortest route by great circle-sailing, we should be inclined 
to think, that he returned by this route, and came again in 
sight of the Ncav England coast. It is however possible, 
that, like the greater part of the navigators of his time, he 
may have followed a more southern track by the Azores. 

On their return from their first voyage of 1497, the Cabots 
believed, that they had discovered portions of Asia, and so 
proclaimed it. But the more extensive discoveries of the 
second voyage corrected the views of Sebastian, and revealed 
to him nothing but a wild and barbarous coast stretching 
through thirty degrees of latitude, from 67i° to 36°. The 
discovery of this impassable barrier across his passage to 
Cathay, as he often complained, was a sore displeasure to him. 
Instead of the rich possessions of China, which he hoped 
to reach, he was arrested by a New found land, savage and 



VOYAGE OF SEBASTIAN CABOT IN 1498. 145 

uncultivated. A spirited German author, Dr. G. M. Asher, 
in his life of Henry Hudson, published in London in 1860, 
observes : " The displeasure of Cabot involves the scientific 
discovery of a new world. He was the first to recognize, that 
a new and unknown continent was lying, as one vast barrier, 
between Western Europe and Eastern Asia." 

Still, a long time after Cabot, geographers represented on 
their maps Newfoundland, Labrador, and the neighboring 
territory, as parts of Northern Asia. But Cabot, on the 
first chart of his discoveries, which has been preserved to us 
by a Spanish cosmographer, represented the entire eastern 
coast of North America as a separate and independent conti- 
nent, entirely distinct from Asia. 

The scientific results of Cabot's voyage consequently were 
very great, though they could not be appreciated at once by 
all his contemporaries. 

The more practical, pecuniary, and commercial gains of the 
expedition were not so attractive as the merchants of Bristol 
and the covetous Henry had expected : it was probably for 
this reason, principally, that when Cabot made proposals in 
the following year, 1499, for another expedition to the same 
regions, he was supported neither by the king nor the mer- 
chants.* For several years the scheme for the discovery of 
a north-western route to Cathay, was not much favored in 
England. 

Nevertheless, the voyage of this gifted and enterprising 
youth along the entire coast of the present United States, 
nay, along the whole extent of that great continent, in which 
now the English race and language prevail and flourish, has 



* Nevertheless, some authors believe that he made in that year another 
voyage of discovery, which, however, is said to have been directed to the 
tropical regions. The scattered hints which we have on this expedition of 
1499, have been collected in Biddle's Memoir, p. 91 seq. 
10 



146 VOYAGE OF SEBASTIAN CABOT IX 1498. 

always been considered as the true beginning, the foundation 
and corner-stone of all the English claims and possessions in 
the northern half of America. Enoflish flaus were the first 
which were planted along those shores, and English men were 
the first of modern Europeans, who with their own eyes sur- 
veyed the border of that great assemblage of countries, in 
which they were destined to become so prominent ; and were 
also the first to put their feet upon it. The history of each 
one of that chain of States, stretching along the western 
shores of the Atlantic, begins with Sebastian Cabot, and his 
expedition of 1498. And this is especially true of the State 
of Maine, and the other States of New England ; whose 
remarkable coasts were particularly observed by him, and 
clearly delineated on his chart, as I shall endeavor to show 
in my examination of Cosa's map. 



O; 




APPENDAGE TO CHAPTER IV. 



1. Ox THE Map, No. 4, of thk Ocean axd Islands between 
Western Europe and Eastern Asia, from the Globe of 
Martin Behaim, 1492.* 

Martin Behaim, a well-known German astronomei- and cosmogra- 
pher, was born in Nureniburg in the year 1459, and in 1479 went from 
there to Lisbon, where several of liis countrymen were settled. Being 
a scholar of the celebrated German astronomer and mathematician, 
Regiomontanus, he soon made himself known among the Portuguese 
for his cosmographical and mathematical knowledge, and was made, 
by John II, of Portugal, a member of a commission for improving ma- 
rine instruments. In the year 148o, he constructed upon the principle 
of his master, Regiomontanus, a new astrolabium, which was adopted 
by this commission and introduced into the Portuguese navy. The Por- 
tuguese navigators were enabled, by this instrument, to find their lati- 
tude with much more accuracy than before. 

Behaim himself, in company with the Portuguese discoverers, made 
extensive voyages along the coast of Africa and to the Azores, where 
he married a Portuguese lady of Flemish extraction. In all these and 
other respects his life was similar to that of Columbus, with whom he 
became personally acquainted in Lisbon. He shared the views of Co- 
lumbus on the feasibility of a passage from Portugal to India on a 
western route, and on the short distance between "Western Europe and 
Eastern Asia. He did not, however, make this voyage ; but in the glo- 
rious year 1492, the German cosmographer, being on a visit to his 
friends in Nuremburg, constructed the celebrated globe, on which he 
cleai-ly proved, that it was possible to do, what the more enterprising 
Italian meanwhile did. 

* See upon this globe and upon Behaim, the work: F. W. Ghillany, Geschichte dea 
Seefahrers Ritter Martin Behaim. Nurnberg, 1853. 



148 MAP OF BEHAIM, 1492. 

This globe, oii which the entire world and all its then known parts 
and islands were depicted, is hij^hly interesting^ to us, because we see 
represented upon it the views and ideas of Behaim, which were also 
more or less tho£,e of Toscanelli, Columbus, Cabot, and all their intelli- 
gent and well-informed contemporaries. 

In map No. 4, 1 have given from that globe only the portion which 
most interests us here; namely, the western coasts of Europe and 
Northern Africa, the eastern coast of Asia, and the ocean and islands 
between them. With i-espect to the configuration of these coasts and 
islands, and the distances between them, our copy is a reduced fac- 
simile, from the copy of the globe in the above-quoted work of Ghilla- 
ny, though not in the handwriting, names, and inscriptions. The 
original has many names in Asia and Africa, which I have left out as 
not connected with our subject. I have retained nearly all those of the 
islands as important; but have omitted the long German inscriptions 
or legends added to them, of which I shall speak, however, as occasion 
may require. 

In the north-east of our representation appears "Island" (Iceland), 
under the arctic circle. To the south of it, in the same meridian, " Ir- 
lant" (Ireland) and " Hispania " (Spain). In Africa I have preserved 
only the names "Atlas Montes " (Mount Atlas), " Cabo verde " (Cape 
Verde), and " Sera lion" (Sierra Leone). 

From the coasts of Africa and Spain to the west, stretch out several 
chains and groups of islands, as the Canaries, the Cape Verde, and the 
Azores, which had long been known to European navigators, and the 
greater number of which have the names inscribed, by which they are 
known to-day. The Azores stand out far to the west, — the last of 
them, " Insula de flores," nearly midway between Europe and Asia. 

At the south-west of the Azores, we find the two fixmous and often 
mentioned islands, which, after the fourteenth century, were sujiposed 
to exist in the most western parts of the ocean, one called " Antilia," 
and the other " Saint Brandan." * 

Of the first island Behaim says: " In the year 73i, after the conquest 
of Spain by the Mahometans, this island, Antilia, was discovered and 
settled by an arclibishop from Oporto in Portugal, who fled to it in 
ships with six other bishops and other Christian men and women. 
They built there seven towns, from which circumstance it has also been 
called ' septemcitade ' (the island of the seven cities). In the year 1414, 
a Spanish vessel catne very near to it." 

* The French geograplior, II. D'AvPzac, has written an excellent article " on the 
fabulous islands of the Atlantic Ocean in the middle ages." See his " Nouvelles An- 
nales des Voyages, torn. 1, 2. 1845. 



MAP OF BEHAIM, 1492. 149 

Regarding the second island, Beliaim adds the followin<r: "After the 
birth of our Saviour, in the year 5(35, Saint Brandan, an Irish bishop, 
arrived with his vessel on this island; saw there most wonderful things, 
and returned afterwards to his country." 

It is well known that these and similar stories of voyages and emi- 
grations, made to distant islands in the far west of the ocean, were 
often told in the middle ages. All these stories came from Portugal , 
Spain, Ireland, and Oreat Britain, — the European nations which were 
afterwards so prominent and active in the discovery and settlement of 
America. The islands of St. Brandan and Antilia were also depicted 
on charts of the fourteenth century. Some time after the discovery of 
the West India Islands by Columbus, the old name " Antilia," which 
according to Humboldt is of Arabic origin, was applied to them. The 
island of St. Brandan was believed to exist a long time after the dis- 
covery of America by Columbus, and many expeditions were made 
even in the seventeenth century, from the Canaries and the Cape Verde 
Islands, for the purpose of finding it. 

Some hundred leagues to the west of St. Brandan's Island, Behaim 
puts down the large island of •' Cipangu," or Japan, of which Marco 
Polo, in the thirteenth century, had spoken, as being rich, and as lying 
not far from China to the east. Behaim gives to it about the latitude 
of Cuba and Hispaniola. Columbus, therefore, when he arrived at this 
latter island, thought it to be Japan. 

Cipangu, or Japan, is surrounded by an ocean full of innumerable 
islands. The Arabs, probably ever since the time of Siudbad the Navi- 
gator, were somewhat acquainted with the innumei'able islands of the 
Indian Archipelago and of the western half of the Pacific ; and these 
Arabian traditions may have been dei^icted and alluded to here.* 

The eastern coast of Asia is drawn on our map in the same manner, 
as we see it on many previous maps, according to the notions and re- 
ports of Marco Polo. It is the coast along which Columbus, and after 
him John and Sebastian Cabot, in the year 1497, and many other navi- 
gators thought they were sailing, whilst they were really sailing along 
the coast of America. 

We find here indicated the great rivers of China, and the names, 
" India," " mangi," " Cathaia," " thebet," " tataria," " bergi." 

The name " India " was at once applied to the American discover- 
ies, believed to be a part of the continent of Asia; and the name is still 



* On Sindbad, the Arabian navigator, and on the notions and information of the 
Arabs about the islands and waters at the east of Asia, a treatise has been written by 
Baron Walckenaer iu Nouvelles Annales des voyages, torn. 1, p. 14 seq. 1832. 



150 MAP OF BEHAIM, 1492. 

given to the central region, called the West Indies ; and the aborigines 
are still called Indians. 

" Mangi " is the name of a Chinese province spoken of by Marco 
Polo, and looked for by Columbus, when lie was sailing along the 
coasts of Honduras and Central America. 

" Cathaia " is the old name of Northern China, which for a long pe- 
riod was the object of very many expeditions for the discovery of a so- 
called North-western Passage. 

The name " tataria," also placed on our map, often finds a place in 
the subsequent explorations of America. So long as America was 
thought to be a part of Asia, or connected with it, the North American 
Indians were thought to be Tartars. 

Besides the names which I have put down on our copy, Behaim in 
his original had many others ; and also many decorative inscriptions 
and legends, nearly all of which were taken from the work of Marco Polo. 

Already, in the year 1474, the distinguished and learned Italian as- 
tronomer, Toscanelli, had sent to Columbus a map of the world con- 
structed by him, and a letter explaining this map. That interesting 
map has not been preserved; but we have the letter.* From the 
description of the map contained in this letter, it appears that it 
was very similar to the globe of Behaim; having the same islands, the 
same coniiguration of the coasts of Europe, Africa, and Asia, and about 
the same dimen.sions and proportions of the ocean. It is said that 
Columbus, on his first voyage, had Toscanelli's map on board, and 
sailed by it. He, probably, on one or more of the numerous maps 
which he composed, had followed the same principles and represented 
similar things. Of these maps of Columbus not a single one has been 
preserved. The globe which Behaim composed in Nuremburg is the 
only original map which has come down to us, giving us the notions 
of Toscanelli, of Christopher Columbus, of his brother, Bartholomew 
Columbus, and their fellow voyagers on the ocean between Euro^je and 
Asia.t The Cabots very probably had a similar map on board, when 
in 1407 they sailed to find the shortest course to Cathay. A copy of 
it should be added to every work treating on the discovery of America. 
I have, therefore, given it a place at the end of my chapter on the first 
voyage of the Cabots. 

* See it in Navarette, Collecion de los viages y descubrimientos, etc., torn. 2, p. 1. 
Madrid, 1823. Compare what Humboldt says on the map of Toscanelli in his Kritische 
Untersuchungen, 1, pp. 206-20S. 

t M. D'Avezac calls this globe " une copie ou une reminiscence de la carte de Tos- 
canelli " (a copy or reminiscence of the chart of Toscanelli). See D'Avezac, 1. c. 
p. 52. 




/VUOipiJ3f^:- ^If/J 



R 



Cavo dp YmitafiTTO 



'ca'Z"il'^^,,h«n fSj 



c: 



MAP OF COSA, 1500. 151 



2. On the Map, No. 5, of the East Coast of North Amekica, 
BY Juan de la Cosa, in the Yeak 1500.* 

Juan de la Cosa was a celebrated Spanish navigator, and one of the 
first discoverers of the West Indies. He accompanied Columbus on 
his second voyage to the west, in the years 1493-1496. He after- 
wards commanded several exploring expeditions to America, and took 
his share in the discovery and conquest of the northern coast of South 
Anierica, Venezuela and New Granada. He had so mucl\ experience 
of the west and of the ocean, that he boasted " that he knew more of 
them than the Admiral (Columbus) himself." The early historians of 
America speak of him with high esteem. 

Cosa, like other explorers, probably drew several charts of the 
new countries he visited, which, like many other drafts, are lost to 
us. In the year 1300, he compiled a large map of the entire world, on 
which he laid down all that he knew of the Spanish and Portuguese 
discoveries in the new world. This map, of which probably several 
copies were made, appears, like its author, to have been highly es- 
teemed by the Spaniards. One of these copies was hung ui> in the 
study of the then minister of Marine, Juan de Fonseca. It was after- 
wards, like most of the old maps, neglected and forgotten. 

In the year 1832, the great German scholar, Humboldt, being occu- 
pied with his researches on the history and geography of America, 
during the time of the cholera in Paris, found, in the excellent library 
of his friend. Baron Walckenaer, a large map of the world, which the 
learned owner thought to be an old Portuguese production. Hum- 
boldt, however, discovered on it the inscription, " Juan de la Cosa la 
fixo en el Puerto de Sta Maria en afio de 1.500" (Juan de la Cosa made 
it in the port of Saint Mary in the year 1500). There was no doubt, 
that the very first map, on which a great part of the western continent 
was depicted, had now been brought to light.t 

The whole map, as well as parts of it, have been repeal edly copied 
and published. Lelewel gave a reduced copy in his Atlas, No. 41. 
Sagra, in his work on Cuba, and Humboldt, in his " Examen Critique," 
gave sections of it. He communicated also a reduced cojjy to Dr. Ghil- 
lany, who embodied it in his work on Martin Behaim. The map was 

*See on this map, 1. J. Lelewel, Geographic du moyen age, torn. 2, p. 109 scq. 
Bruxelles, 1852. 2. A. Von Humboldt, in the work, " F. W. Ghillany, Geschichte des 
Seefahrers Martin Behaim," p. 1 seq. Nurnberg, 1853, and the work there quoted on 
Cuba by Sagra. 

t See Humboldt's introductory remarks to Ghillany's work on Behaim, p. 1 seq. 



152 MAP OF COSA, 1500. 

again copied by tlie great French geographer, M. Jomard, who pub- 
lished a perfect fac-simile of it in his '• Monuments de Geographic." 
So the map lias now become well known, and is generally acknowl- 
edged to be one of the most interesting and important documents for 
the geographical liistory of America. 

Our reduced copy of that part of Cosa's map which represents the 
northern half of the new world, was principally made after Humboldt's 
copy. I have, however, added a few names which Humboldt omitted, 
and which I find in Jomard's fac-simile.'' 

The map has no indication of the degrees of latitude. It has, how- 
ever, the equator and the " circulo cancro" (the tropic of cancer 23j° 
N.), which enables us to recognize the latitudes of the several objects 
represented on the map. 

Cosa draws the entire east coast of North America, from the neigh- 
borhood of Cuba to the high northern regions, in about 70° N., with 
a continuous line, uninterrupted by water. He appears to have thought, 
that there was a large continental part of the workl, back of the West 
India Islands discovered by Columbus and his contemporaries. 

Before the year 1500, no Spanish navigator had been along that coast. 
The only exploring expeditions made to it, were those of the English 
under John and Sebastian Cabot in 1497 and 1498; and Cosa must 
have had his information for this part of his map from English origi- 
nals. He indicates this himself by the broad inscription running along 
the coast: "Mar descubierto por Ingleses" (Sea discovered by the 
Enghsh). 

The true general trending of the east coast of North America, from 
Florida to Newfoundland, is from south-east to north-west. Cosa, on 
his map, makes it nenrhj in the same direction; but he extends it more 
east and west, which is a consequence of the projection of his map 
being a plane chart, having tlie degrees of longitude uniform through- 
out. 

Cosa's coast-line in the higher latitudes, opposite "Frislanda" (Ice- 
land), has some similarity with the coast-line on the recently discovered 
map (see map No. 20), said to have been made by Sebastian Cabot in the 
year 1.j44. This is a remarkable circumstance. For it would seem to 
prove, that Sebastian Cabot had seen those arctic regions in 1498, and 
not at a later date, in 1517, as Mr. Biddle and some others have sup- 
posed. The easternmost point and peninsula of Newfoundland is 
easily recognized on Cosa's map, and agrees with the true configura- 
tion of this coast-line. He has also given a pretty long list of names 
upon the southern coast of the island. 

These circumstances convince me, that Cosa made his chart of our 



MAP OF COSA, laOO. 153 

east coast, not in a fanciful and rou<;li manner from general reports of 
sailors or the companions of the Cabots, as they may have been 
current in the harbors of Spain, after Cabot's voj^age ; but that in 
drawing his line, he must have had before him some copy of the chart, 
made by the Cabots themselves.* 

There is no difficulty in supposing, that a copy of the chart of Cabot 
may have been seen by Cosa in 1500. Some of the companions of 
the Cabots may have been Spaniards, and have returned before 1500, to 
the ports of their native country, carrying with them, not only reports, 
but also charts of the voyage. The Spanish Envoy then at the Eng- 
lish court, Don Pedro de Ayala, in a letter to his king, dated July 25, 
1498, also tells us, that he saw the chart, made by Juan Cabot on his 
first voyage, and that he intended to send a copy of it to his Spanish 
Majesty.t 

This Spanish envoy may also have been careful to send to Spain 
afterwards, a copy of the chart of the second Cabotian expedition, on 
which the southern section of our east coast was discovered ; and this 
copy may have been used by Cosa for his map. 

This i^roves that the headlands, bays, peninsulas, and other objects 
represented on the map, are not made at random, but are sketches of 
such projections of the coast as the Cabots supposed themselves to 
have seen, and attempted to delineate, and are therefore worthy of a 
critical examination. 

The best starting-point is given at the eastern cape of the coast, 
called "Cavo de Ynglaterra" (Cape of England), in about 50° N. 
Though this is not exactly the latitude of Cape Kace, which stands in 
about 4()^° N., still there can be scarcely a doubt, that this cape is 
meant. The latitudes on our map, including those of the West India 
Islands, are much too high. 

The configuration given to " the Cape of England " and its vicinity, 
has a strikhig resemblance to the configuration of Cape Race and the 
entire south-eastern section, or triangle, of Newfoundland ; and I may 
add, that on all subsequent maps, this region has always been repre- 
sented in great harmony with nature. Newfoundland, and more espe- 
cially Cape Race, which was usually the first point of America seen by 
the early European navigators, and the part best known to them, and 

•See Lelewel, 1. c, torn. 2, p. 110, who says with respect to this map: "Oue sees 
from Cosa's map, that lie was not a iiiyre copyist, but a compositor, and a distinguished 
com.ioiitjr anil draftsiiiau, who w irked with great exactness." 

t See this letter printed in the " Calendar of thL' Spanish Archives," edited by Ber- 
genroth, vol. 1, p. 177; and also in Proceedings of the American Antic^uuriau Society, 
at the annua: meeilnj held in Worcester, Oct. 21, 1865, p. 25. 



154 MAP OF COSA, 1500. 

"wliose liglit-house is still the first object sighted by our steamers as 
they approach the coast, is also, as it were, the regulating light for the 
examination of all old maps of the east coast. 

From this map it appears probable, that the Cabots, on their discove- 
ries, gave to this remarkable point the name of '" the Cape of England ; " 
and they probably did this from the circumstance, that it is the 
nearest point of America toward England. For a similar reason, we 
may suppose, that on subsequent maps of the Portuguese, probably 
drawn by the Cortereals, it is named " the Cape of Portugal," as being 
the nearest point to that country. 

From " Cavo de Ynglaterra" (Cape Race), the map represents the 
coast-line as running for a long way east and west, which I consider to 
be the south coast of Newfoundland, which runs in the same direc- 
tion.* Here the map is embellished with several English flags, and 
has names, which Cosa probably found on his English copy, and 
which he translated into Spanish, as "Cavo de lisarte" (Cape Lizard), 
"Cavo de S. Johann" (Cape St. John), etc. Some of these names are 
found on subsequent maps ; but, as they relate to Newfoundland, do 
not require particular examination here. 

The list of names ends in the west with a flag-staff, and near to it 
"CavodeS. Jorge" (S.George's Cape), and "Cavo descubierto" (the 
discovered cape). To the west of " Cavo descubierto" comes a broad 
gulf, though, instead of such a gulf, we should exjiect to find the far 
projecting peninsula of Nova Scotia. For several hundred miles to 
the west, the coast-line of Cosa's map oft'ers no resemblance whatever 
to the coast-line of our present maps. 

But soon after the inscription, " Mar descubierto por Yngleses," and 
to the west of it, Cosa draws a bay, which looks very much like the 
Gulf of Maine. It has about the same size and semicircular shape, and 
is surrounded in the south by a projecting promontory, offering the 
form of a horn, by which, I think, Cape Cod is intended, for the follow- 
ing reasons : 

* Baron Humboldt (in Ghillany's work on Behaim, p. 2) thinks, to my great aston- 
ishment, tliat here, the northern coast of the Gulf of St. Lawrence is meant, and that 
" the Cape of England," consequently, is not Cape Kace, but some headland near the 
Strait of Belle Isle. The small island, called on our map (after Jomard's copy) "S. 
Gregor," to which Humboldt gives the name "Islaverde," he thinks is NeAvfound- 
land. This view is too much in opposition to all that I have stated above. And, 
moreover, I have never found one of the names given on our map, on any of the old 
maps of the northern coast of the Gulf of St. Lawrence; while several of them, for 
instance that of " St. John," occur again on many maps of the south coast of New- 
foundland. 



MAP OF COSA, 1500. 155 

Cape Cod is the most prominent and characteristic point on the 
entire east coast, from Nova Scotia to Florida. Between Cape Eace 
and Florida it has nearly a central position. It has the longitude 
of St. Domingo ("La Espatiola"), and the latitude of about 42° N. 
It has a horn-like shape, and makes the figure of a ship's nose, and was 
therefore called, by the Northmen, "Klalarnes" (Cape Ship-nose). 
This description applies as well to the nameless cape, which we are 
here considering; and in which, I think, I have discovered the first 
indication, ever given on a modern map, of the Gulf of Maine, of Cai)e 
Cod, and the peninsula of New England. 

Cajic Cod could hardly have escaped the observation of Sebastian 
Cabot, during his sail along our coast in 1498. His only predecessors 
here were the Northmen in former centuries, who, like Cabot, sailing 
along the. coast into the Gulf of Maine from the north-east, by New- 
foundland and Nova Scotia, to their Yinland, were also arrested by 
this conspicuous cape. 

That the distance from Cape IJace to the supposed Cape Cod, on our 
map, appears much longer than the distance from this to Cuba, is 
easily explained by two circumstances : 

1. Cabot, in 1498, did not come very much to the south of Cape Cod. 
If he was not stopped by this cape altogether, and turned away by 
Nantucket Shoals and the Gulf-stream, he did not, at all events, pass 
beyond the latitude of 36° or 38° N. There, he thought himself to be 
very near the Spanish possessions. The distance which he actually 
traversed may have appeared to him greater than the rest of the coast, 
from a constant expectation of finding an end to it. The remainder of 
the continental coast on the north and w^est of Cuba not having been 
actually surveyed by Cabot, its representation on the map may have 
been put down by Cabot or Cosa on conjecture. 

2. From the fact, that the chart of Cosa is a plane chart, with an old- 
fashioned projection, according to which the coasts in northern lati- 
tudes are drawn out much more from west to east, it becomes evident, 
that on our map the more northern half of the east coast, from Cape 
Cod to Cape Race, must appear much larger and longer than the south- 
ern half, from Cape Cod to the West India Islands. The island seen 
on our map oft" the horn-like cape, may be Nantucket Island, though 
this lies a little more to the south of Cape Cod. 



156 CHART OF EUYSCH, 1508. 



3. Chart, No. 6, of the New AVorld, bv Joiiann Ruysch, 1508. 

The map, of which we here give that portion relating to the present 
work, was composed by a distinguished German traveler and geogra- 
pher " Joliann Ruysch."* It was published in the edition of Ptolemy's 
geography, printed at Rome in 1508. The text and explanatory notes, 
added to this map in that work, were composed by Marco Beneven- 
tura, an Italian monk. 

It is the first engraved map on which any parts of the new world, 
particularly of North America, were depicted. The supposed latitudes 
and longitudes from Ferro are accurately expressed. 

The map represents parts of Asia, North America, the West India 
Islands, and South America; all scattered around the ocean in large 
and small insular or peninsular tracts of country. In accordance with 
the views prevailing soon after the discovery by Columbus, several 
parts of North Americi (of which the magnitude was as yet generally 
unknown, although it had been exhibited by Cabot and Cosa) are hero 
represented as sections of Eastern Asia. 

South America, whose broad extent was first recognized, is here 
treated by itself, as a large independent continent. It is called " Terra. 
SanctiB Crucis, sive mundus novus" (the country of the Holy Cross ;t 
or, the New World). 

I omit here what the author, Ruysch, observes on this new world 
(South America). He gives its northern coast as far as the Isthmus of 
Panama, and from there he has open water. Of the west coast of this 
same " country of the Holy Cross," he confesses, in his inscription, 
that he knows nothing: "Hue usque nautye Hispani venerunt," etc. 
(so far came the Spanish navigators). On the north of South America, 
some of the West India Islands are laid down, and, more particularly, 
"■ Spagnola" (S. Domingo). It is well known that Columbus, when he 
discovered this large and beautiful island, thought it to be the far-famed 
Zipangu (Japan), mentioned and highly praised by the Venetian, Marco 
Polo. On this point, the author of our map has a long Latin inscriji- 
tion on the coast of China, beginning with : " Dicit Marcus Paulus ;" 
namely, Marco Polo states, that " here should be placed the island of 
'Zipangu' (Japan); but that he (Ruysch) omitted it, because he 

* He is calk'd by a contemporary, " Geographorura peritissimus ac in pingendo 
orbi diligentissimus" (the most expert geographer and very skillful in depicting the 
globe). Kunstmann, Die Kntdeckung America's, p. 137, says, that he accompanied 
gome exploring expeditions undertaken from England to th.- North. 

t A name given by Cabral, 14;i9, to the coast of Brazil. 



CHART OF RUYSCH, 1508. 157 

tliouglit the island of Spaiiola (S. Domingo), discovered by the Span- 
iards, was the old 'Zipangu.'" 

The island of Cuba, west of Spafiola, is the part of our map the most 
misrepresented. It is not described as an island, but as a peninsula 
projecting from a larger country, apparently North America. It is well 
known that Columbus, in 1494, sailed along the southern coast of 
Cuba; but before reaching its western end, became discouraged and 
retraced his course, affirming that Cuba w\as not an island, but a part 
of a larger country. And, though others were of a difterent opinion, 
and though Juan de la Cosa, in 1500, had already depicted Cuba as an 
island, yet our author, Euysch, adhered to the view of Columbus ; and 
represents Cuba, like Florida, as a part of a large northern country ; 
which, however, he thinks to be near to China. The west of this coun- 
try, he says, was unknown to the Spaniards, as was the west of South 
America. He states this in an inscrii^tion, beginning with " IIuc usque 
naves," etc. (so far the vessels). 

On the west of Cuba a large gulf is depicted, extending to the north 
of Asia, and named " Plisacus Sinus ; " of which I do not know what 
to think. 

In the high north, we find Greenlandt (Greenland), and at the south- 
ern end of it. Cape Farewell, under its true latitude, 00° X. The con- 
figuration of Greenland, as a long, broad, triangular peninsula, is also 
well represented. Greenland and Cape Farewell are, as I have already 
noticed, on all the former maps among the best-defined localities. The 
old northern descriptions and maps of this country had been, since the 
middle ages, in the hands of many geographers ; and though it was 
sometimes attached to Europe, and sometimes, as on our map, to 
Asia, we consider it as the first, and best known, and best drawn sec- 
tion of America. 

Near Greenland, on the north-east, we find on the original of our map 
the following most remarkable inscription : " Here the compass of the 
ships does not hold, and the ships which contain iron cannot return." * 
This, as Humboldt observes,! is a proof that the old navigators (Cabot, 
Cortereal), before the year 1.508, had made some observations on the 
action of the magnetic needle in these parts, and had some notion of 
the vicinity of the magnetic pole; the position of which has been 
better defined in modern times. 

" Island" (Iceland) appears in its true position, at the east of Green- 
land. At the south-west of Greenland, the configuration and outlines 



*0n our copy I have not rppeated this inscription. 

t See Humboldt in Ghill.any, Gescliichte des Martin Behaim, p. 4. 



l.)» THE GLOBE OF SCHONER, 1520. 

of Newfoundland are easily recognized. Newfoundlaudj on all of the 
old maps is, after Greenland, the best-defined part of North America. 
Copies of the charts of Cabot, or the Cortereals, or of the Frenchman, 
Jean Denys do Ilonfleur, who is said to have made, in 1506, an excel- 
lent map of Newfoundland, may have been brought to Eome, and been 
used by the author of our map. 

Newfoundland is called " Terra nova." We find on its eastern coast 
the names of places often repeated ; as " Cabo Glaciato," the little 
island of Bacallaos, called on our map, " Bacealauras, and Cape Race, 
to which is affixed the name of " C. de Portogesi" (Cape of the Por- 
tuguese). 

Between the shores of Newfoundland, Labrador, and Greenland, is a 
great gulf, called " Sinus Gruenlanticus " (the Gulf of Greenland), evi- 
dently an indication of the entrance of Davis' Strait. 

The south coast of Terra nova, which, like Cape Race, has its true 
latitude about 4(3° N., runs for some distance east and west. Then 
comes a pretty broad and long inlet, probably the entrance to the Gulf 
of St. Lawrence ; and at the west of this, 3, square-shaped headland, or 
l>eninsula, by which Cape Breton and Nova Scotia may have been 
intended. 

All these, Greenland, Labrador, Newfoundland, and Nova Scotia, are 
attached on the map to Asia, as sections and projections of the old 
world. 

4. Ox A Map, No. 7, of North America from the Globe of 

JOHANN SCHONER, irj20. 

Johann Sohoner* was one of the learned German mathematicians 
and astronomers of the school of the famous Regiomontanus, who, in 
the beginning of the sixteenth century, assembled in Nuremburg, and 
there exercised by their writings, maps, and globes a great influence 
on American discovery and geography. 

Schoner was professor of mathematics in the gymnasium at Nurem- 
burg, and wrote several geographical and astronomical works, often 
quoted by Humboldt in his " Critical Researches." In the year 1520, 
upon the invitation and at the exi^ense of a wealthy friend, Johann 
Seyler, he constructed a large globe, on which he carefully laid down the 
configuration of the several parts of the world, according to his con- 
ceptions. This globe is still preserved in the city of Nuremburg. It 
was for the first time copied, printed, and published in a planisphere 
by Dr. F. W. Ghillany, State librarian of Nuremburg, in 1853, in his ex- 

* Sometimes erroneously written " Schoener." 



THE GLOBE OF SCHONEE, 1520. 159 

cellent work on Martin Behaim. It was accompanied by introductory 
remarks by Humboldt ; who has also incidentally treated of this globe 
in several places of his great work, " Critical Researches."' After this 
the globe of Schoner was repeatedly copied in other works ; for in- 
stance, in Lelcwel's History of the Geography of the Middle Ages, and 
thus became better known. 

I give here, after Ghillany's fac-simile, a reduced copy of the sec- 
tion of this globe, relating to North America. I have, however, left out 
several names and inscriptions contained in the original; and only re- 
tained those which have appeared to me as having an interest for the 
subject of our work. 

There are in Germany several other globes, which depict the world 
nearly in the same manner as this. One is preserved in the city of 
Frankfort on the Main, with the same date, 1520, which has been repro- 
duced in a fac-simile copy by M. Jomard, in his " Monuments de la 
Goographie." Another is preserved in the collection of the grand duke 
of Weimar. All these globes give to North and South America the 
same configuration and position, as they have on the map of Schoner. 
Baron Humboldt thinks, that they all have a common origin, and that 
they are, with respect to America, copies of an older chart, " hidden 
perhaps in the Archives of Italy or Spain."* 

I cannot exhibit here the whole contents of this interesting map; 
but I will examine the principal points which relate to our main sub- 
ject. In comparing this draft with Behaim's map (see map No. 4), I may 
call attention to the manner, in which some of the discoverers and cos- 
mographers of the age of Columbus endeavored to combine the new 
discoveries in this hitherto unknown world, with the notions which 
had previously prevailed of the space intervening between Europe 
and Africa on one side, and the eastern ends of Asia on the other. 
They had filled this great interval with innumerable islands, of which 
some had long been known, as the Canaries, Azores, and Cape Verde ; 
others had been mentioned by Marco Polo and his successors, as Zi- 
pangu (Japan) ; and others were more or less imaginary or mythical, 
as " Antilia" and " St. Brandan." After the first discovery of Amesrica 
by Columbus, they conceived of all the new countries as belonging to 
some of those groups, lying in the waters of Asia ; and so they gave to 
these sections of America, seen by Columbus, Cabral, Cortei'eal, and 
others, as diminutive a figure as possible, to make them appear as 
islands. Therefore, in their historical and geographical reports and 
treatises on America, they gave to them the names of " the new isl- 

* See Humboldt, Kritische Untersuchungen, vol. 1, p. 307. 



1<">0 THE GLOBE OF SCIIONER, 1520. 

ands," " the new-discovered islands," and the like. And on their maps 
they crowded these " new islands" into the groups of the old ones, 
which they did not like to leave oft" their charts. 

Some, however, took a diff"erent view, and represented these regions 
as peninsulas and headlands of Asia, as was shown on the map of 
Ruysch (No. 0). As further light broke in, some cosmographers changed 
their opinions, as did Schoner, who having represented Nortli America 
on the globe of 1520, as a large and independent island, makes it, in a 
later work, a peninsula of Asia, as did Kuysch. 

On tlie globe we are now examining, Schoner breaks up America into 
as many islands as possible. At first he puts down the Antilles, cir- 
cumnavigated as they had already been, by Columbus and his succes- 
sors. Then he represents South America as a very large island, to 
which he applies several names : as " Terra nova" (the new country) 
and "America vel Brasilia sive Papagalli terra" (America or Brazil or 
the Parrots' country). The name " America" was applied by Schoner, 
as by nearly all his contemporaries, only to South America, the great 
theatre of the voyages and explorations of Amerigo Vespucci. North 
America was not comprised under the name until a later date. 

" Terra nova," or South America, is separated from the northern 
island by a broad strait; the one for which Columbus, in his later voy- 
ages, made search. And notwithstanding the successors of Columbus 
had, prior to 1.520, proved the Caribbean Sea to be shut in on the west, 
and the southern and northern countries to be connected by an isth- 
mus ; still Schoner and his Nuremburg contemporaries either did not 
know of the results of those explorations, or did not believe in them, 
and i)referred to cherish the opinion, that there was still some passage 
here which had been overlooked. We have maps of a later date than 
1520, on which ships are represented sailing through this Isthmus of 
Panama from the Atlantic into the Pacific Ocean. 

The idea of Columbus, still retained on the map of Ruysch (No. 6)' 
that Zipangu was nothing but the island " Espaf ola," was given up by 
Schoner. He has restored Japan to its proper place on the east of 
China, and has given to " Espafola" a separate existence and a more 
eastern position. Still he does not venture to make the distance be- 
tween Japan and the newly discovered islands very great. He makes 
the " Eastern Ocean "* (the Paciflc) very narrow, and puts Japan, as 
it was done for a long time after him, very near to North America. 

He depicts North America as an island, not very broad, its greatest 
length extending from south to north. In its southern part he has the 

* So called In respect to Asia. 



THE GLOBE OF SCHONER, 1520. IGl 

name " Paria," whioli is here widely misplaced. To the northern part, 
he has f:jiven the name " Terra de Cuba" (the country of Cuba), which 
is apparently intended to bo the s^eneral name of the whole region. It 
is well known that Columbus, hearing for the first time the name of 
" Cuba," believed that a very large country was meant by it, and that 
the land which he called " Isabella " (our present Cuba) was continental 
with it. He did not believe in the existence of the Bahama channel ; 
and when, some time after (1508), this channel and the insularity of 
"Isabella" were clearly proved, some cosmographers, and Schoner 
among them, transferred the name of Cuba to the great country in the 
north. 

Schoner, or his Spanish original, must have known something of the 
expeditions of Ponce de Leon to Florida in 1.513, and of the first explor- 
ing voyages to the Gulf of Mexico; for. he plainly depicts both the 
gulf and peninsula of Florida. To Espanola he gives nearly the true 
latitude. But he, as well as Cosa (No. .5), places " Isabella," our Cuba, 
several degrees too far north. The southern end of Florida is not far 
enough south, though the northern shore of the Gulf of Mexico has its 
true latitude about 30° N. 

The entire west coast of" Terra de Cuba" (North America) is drawn 
with uncertain lines as unknown, and is expressly so designated in the 
inscription upon it, — " Ultra nondum illustratum " (beyond this not yet 
explored). Our east coast, on the contrary, is depicted as high up as 
about 50° N., as already known and explored. Several capes, harbors, 
and gulfs are depicted on it, to which names aie given. Beyond 50° 
N., the country is said not to be known, " Ulterius incognitum." 

The names written upon our east coast appear to be of Spanish ori- 
gin, though they are sometimes Italianized, or otherwise corrupted. 
The voyages, which were made between the time of Columbus and 
1520 along our east coast, and upon which we are more or less in- 
formed, are those of Cabot, in 1498 ; of Ponce de Leon, not higher north 
than about 30° N., in 1513; of Antonio de Alaminos, sailing with the 
Gulf-stream along the coast of Florida, in 1519 ; and of Ayllon, as high 
as about 34° N., in 1520. In none of these expeditions, and the writings 
and charts belonging to them, do we find any of the names mentioned 
on our globe, or on the map of Cosa, or the other maps of America 
known to us before the year 1520. Nor do any of these names occur on 
subsequent maps of America, for instance, that of Ribero of 1529. They 
are all new and original. We can account for the use of these names 
only by supposing that they were the invention of the map-makers, or 
were given by some explorer whose chart is now unknown. That 
Schoner, the very learned professor of astronomy, who prepared his 
11 



162 THE GLOBE OF SCHONER, 1520. 

globe for a wealthy and learned friend, and not for the market, invented 
such fantastic names, is quite out of the question. He, no doubt, as 
Humboldt suggests, copied from some original which he believed to 
be authentic and correct. The author of this Spanish original, whom 
we do not know, may have invented the names. And though some of 
them look like corruptions, still the greater part do not look like inven- 
tions. On the contrary, they appear to be such as a navigator might 
well have distributed on an unknown coast discovered by him. Such, 
for instance, are the following : 

" Capo del gato " (the cape of the cat), " Cabo sancto " (the holy cape), 
"las cabras" (the goats), " Costa alta " (the high coast), etc. In one 
name a certain "Diego" is mentioned. "Rio de Don Diego" (the 
river of Don Diego). These do not seem fanciful. I do not believe 
that the Spanish, Italian, and German map-makers of the time of Co- 
lumbus and soon after him, were in the habit of inventing new names. 
They gave them as they found them. A little later, when elegant maps 
were much sought after and became fashionable, and when great num- 
bers were fabricated in Italy and elsewhere, unknown countries may 
Bometimes have been embellished with merely fanciful names. It is 
probable that they were the work of some Spanish navigator, perhaps 
a private adventurer, whose name has not reached us : for, as Gomara 
says, " Of many discoverers and explorers of the Western Indies we 
have no memorial, particularly of those who sailed to the northern 
parts."* 

The names run up as high as 50° N., which must probably be 
reckoned a few degrees lower ; and where the names " Cosen d'mar," 
"Cabo delli contis," " C. bona ventura" occur, the neighborhood of 
New England would seem to be indicated. 

Newfoundland, and probably also a part of Labrador appear upon 
our map as a large island, floating forsaken in the midst of the great 
northei-n ocean, under the name of "Terra Corterealis " (Cortereal's 
land), and separated from the rest of America by a very broad strait — 
an exaggeration of the Gulf of St. Lawrence. It is represented in the 
same manner on many early maps. 

Schoner's globe thus truly indicates two great series of North Amer- 
ican voyages and discoveries; of which, one was directed to the north- 
west, and, commencing with the Cabots, Cortereals, and their predeces- 
sors at Newfoundland and Labrador, by degrees came down to Canada 
and Nova Scotia; while the other series, commencing with Colum- 
bus, Ponce de Leon, Alaminos, Ayllon, and their successors in the 

* Gomara, liistoria de las Indias, fol. 20. Madrid, 1553. 



THE GLOBE OF SCHONER, 1520. 1G3 

south, advanced from the West India Islands by dej^ees toward 
the north, to Virginia and New England. Between these extreme 
I^oints, there remained a more or less unknown region, which, on our 
globe, has been indicated by ojien water. 

In depicting the east coast of Asia and the many islands there, 
including Japan and " Java major," our author follows Martin Behaim's 
globe which existed then as now, in Nuremburg. In fact, Schoner's 
globe may be considered as a new edition of Behaim, with the addition 
of the newly discovered islands. (See map No. 4.) 



CHAPTER V. 

EXPEDITIONS OF GASPAR AND MIGUEL DE CORTEEEAL 
TO THE NORTH-EASTERN COAST OF AMERICA IN THE 
YEARS 1500-1503. 



1. Introductory Remarks. 

Soon after the exploring expeditions of tlie Cabots, the 
flag of another nation of Western Europe appeared in our 
waters. The Portuguese, in the year 1500, entered the 
field of western discovery, and exercised an important influ- 
ence on American history and geography, which continued a 
long time, and is still visible in several names given by them 
to certain localities on our coast, which have generally been 
adopted by subsequent voyagers and geographers. 

The young king of Portugal, Emanuel, called the Great, 
or the Fortunate, after the death of his cousin, John I, had 
come to the throne in 1495. He was a talented, enterpris- 
ing, and highly educated sovereign, in whose reign com- 
merce, science, and the arts flourished in Portugal. Under 
him Portugal became the most powerful nation on the ocean, 
and the commercial center of Europe. 

In 1497, he had sent out Vasco de Gama to circumnavi- 
gate Africa, and to reach the East Indies on that route. 
And, in the beginning of 1500, he had sent Pedro Alvarez 
Cabral on a similar expedition ; who, on his way, touched 
the eastern parts of South America, discovered the coast of 
Brazil, and gained there for Portugal an extensive empire. 

The Portuguese, having declined the proposal of Columbus 
in 1484, for a westei-n voyage, were grievously disappointed 



VOYAGES OF THE CORTEREALS. 165 

when the news arrived, that in 1493, saiHng under tlie 
auspices of Spain, he had reached Japan, as he supposed he 
liad, when he arrived at HispanioUi. Cut off from the east in 
that direction by the Spaniards ; and aroused by the fear that 
some sliorter way still might be found, by which he might 
be invaded in the new dominion, conquered for him in the 
east by Vasco de Gama in 1497 ; and, at the same time, 
inspired by the hope that he might himself succeed in his wish 
to find that shorter route, in the direction in which, as he well 
knew, it had been sought by the Cabots without success, — 
the new king Emanuel resolved, near the close of 1499, to 
send an expedition to the north-west. He therefore ordered 
two ships to be fitted out, and appointed Gaspar Cortereal, 
one of his able and accomplished officers, to the command. 
Cortereal's confidence of success was so great, that he offered 
to pay a part of the expenses ; in consideration of which, the 
king offered him certain rights and privileges, and to make 
him governor of the countries he should discover. 

The Cortereals were of a noble Portuguese family, of con- 
siderable influence. The father of Gaspar, John Vaz Cor- 
tereal, had, in 1464, been made hereditary governor of 
Terceira, as successor of the Flemish governor, Jacob of 
Bruges. Thus stationed in the midst of the ocean, on the 
largest of " the Western Islands," the family of the Cortereals 
became familiar Avith sea- voyages and oceanic enterprises. 
Some historians have even asserted, that the father, Vaz 
Cortereal, had himself made an expedition to the far west, 
and discovered, before Columbus, an island or country called 
Terra de Baccalhaos (the land of cod-fish). But for this 
claim there is no reliable evidence.* The Spanish historian 
Herrera, calls him " the discoverer of Terceira," which is 

* See Biddle'3 Memoir, p. 28G seq. 



166 VOYAGES OF THE COETEREALS. 

not strictly true. Vaz Cortereal may have done much for 
the better exploration and settlement of the Azores, but they 
had been discovered before his time. Yet he may have been 
a great navigator, and his sons may have inherited from him, 
not only the government of Terceira, but also his taste for 
maritime enterprise. 

2. First Voyage of Gaspar Cortereal in the Year 1500. 

Gaspar Cortereal sailed from Lisbon in 1500 ; probably in 
the spring of that year. We have no authentic information 
in regard to the preliminary circumstances of this voyage, 
the causes which led to it, nor indeed of its plan, or of the 
royal instructions prescribed for it. But although the scat- 
tered reports concerning the expedition are silent as to its 
object, we cannot doubt that it was similar to that of the 
Cabots, — a discovery of the long-coveted passage to Cathay. 
Nothino; else could have induced the Portuguese to go to the 
arctic regions. Nor have we any official report or journal 
of the voyage, or any chart prepared by the commander, 
although some charts remain, which are probably copies of 
one or more made by Cortereal. 

He sailed from Lisbon on a western course to the Azores, 
where his elder brother, Vasqueanes, Avas governor, as suc- 
cessor to his father, and where he could easily make his final 
arrangements and complete his outfit for the voyage.* 

By what chart he was guided we have no information ; 
but it is presumed, that he must have had or seen a sketch 
of Cabot's map, as it had reached Spain in 1499 ; and by 
this, he must have been attracted to the headland of " Cabo 
de Ynglatierra" (Cape Race) stretching far to the east. On 
one side of this conspicuous promontory, he could see the 

;_. *Giilvano, in " Discoveries of the World." Hakluyt, first ed., p. 97, says, 
" that he touched at Terceira." 



VOYACxES OF THE CORTEUEALS 1G7 

coast, running first westerly, then southerly ; and, on the 
other side, it was represented as running north toward un- 
known regions. Having such a map, or, at all events, having 
some similar information about the latitudes and longitudes of 
the countries seen by the Cabots, and their configuration, 
Cortereal would naturally steer for that prominent cape; and, 
avoiding the continuous and hopeless coast to the south, make 
directly for the coast to the north of " Cabo de Ynglatierra," 
which lay in his track and which he hoped might conduct to 
open water in the north : in tliis manner, he would arrive 
somewhere on the east coast of Newfoundland. 

That his land-fall was not to the south of Cape Race and 
the St. Lawrence, on the coasts of Nova Scotia or New Eng- 
gland, as Mr. Biddle has supposed,* is still more probable 
from the general direction of the Avinds and currents in the 
ocean he was crossing on his north-western course from the 
Azores. He passed through the broad eastern prolongation 
of the Gulf-stream, and through that part of the temper- 
ate zone in which westerly winds prevail. These westerly 
winds and currents would have the tendency to set him to 

* [The subject of the land-fall of this voyage, and its general featui-es, 
have received a very ample and critical discussion in the able and rare 
work of Richard Biddle, " A Memoir of Sebastian Cabot," published 
anonymously in London and Philadelphia in 1831-32. This " Review of 
Maritime Discovery" did not receive the attention from the public it 
deserved. It came unheralded npon the world, at a time when general 
attention had not been turned to these inquiries. Mr. Biddle was born in 
Philadelphia in 179(5, a brother of Nicholas Biddle, the famed President of 
the United States Bank in its contest with General Jackson. Mr. Biddle 
was eminent as an author and a jurist. His memoir of Cabot Avas the 
result of careful and laborious examination of original documents and the 
accounts of the early voyages, and freed from obscurity a subject which 
had been overshadowed by misapprehension and numerous errors. The 
work is now very rare, and has justly taken its place among the most 
valued authorities on the matters of which it treats. Mr. Biddle died in 
1847.— Ed.] 



168 VOYAGES OF THE COETEEEALS 

the east, and cany liim away from the coasts of Nova Scotia 
and New England, even if he may, at first, have taken a 
more westerly course, which I think is improbable. 

The exact latitude of Cortereal's land-fall is nowhere 
given. Some authors think, that it was at Conception Bay, 
and that he gave to it this name. Conception Bay is not far 
north of Cape Race, and from what has been said, may very 
probably have been the place which he first touched. 

From his land-fall he sailed toward the north ; how far, 
we do not know ; and then discovered a country, which he is 
said to have indicated under the name of "Terra verde" 
(Greenland) ; probably the same country which has borne 
that name ever since the time of the Northmen.* 

He came to a river, called by him " Rio nevado " (the 
snow river), which has been put on later maps, by different 
authors, as near the latitude of Hudson's Strait. Here he is 
represented to have been stopped by ice, and returned 
directly to Lisbon, after having revisited a harbor on the east 
coast of Newfoundland, to repair his ships and refresh his 
trew after their northern hardships. He arrived at Lisbon 
in the autumn of 1500,f the precise date we do not know ; 
nor do we hear that on this first voyage he brought home 
Indians, or any products of the countries which he saw. He 
must, however, have judged the prospect favorable and prom- 
ising ; for he at once made arrangements for a second voyage 
to the same reo;ions. 



*This is made more probable from an inspection of the charts relating 
to Cortereal's voyage, Nos. 8, 9, 10 in the Appendage. 

1 1 follow here, AA'ith respect to Cortereal's first voyage, in most points, the 
results of the research of Kunstmann, who has examined tlie Portuguese 
archives, and brought to light several new facts. See Kunstmann, Die 
Entdeckung America's, p. 57. Munchen, 1859. 



VOYAGES OF THE CORTEREALS. 1G9 



3. Gaspar Cortereal's Second Voyage ix the Year 1501, 

On the 15th of May, 1501, Gaspar Cortereal left Lisbon 
again with two* ships, and sailed "in a west-nortli-west 
direction.'"! In this direction, "at a distance of abont two 
thousand Italian miles " from Lisbon, he discovered land ; 
and this, his second land-fall, must also have been on some 
part of the east coast of Newfoundland, north of Cape 
Race, to which a Avest-north-west course, at a distance of two 
thousand Italian miles, would conduct him. It could not, 
therefore, have been on the coasts of New England ; for, 
being in the same latitude as Portugal, they could not be 
reached by a west-north-west course ; and they are nearly 
three thousand miles, instead of two thousand, distant from 
Lisbon. 

From this point Cortereal sailed along the coast, probably 
in a north-west direction, six or seven hundred Italian miles, 
without coming to the end of it. Nor was he able to reach 
again the northern country which he had seen the year 
before, and which he had called "Terra verde;" because 
the sea was more filled Avith ice than the year before. He, 
therefore, again turned to the south. On his return, he 
seized fifty-seven of the aborigines, men and boys, fifty of 
whom he took on board his own vessel, and seven he put in 
his consort. 

These aborigines, captured according to the custom of the 
explorers of that day, are described, by an eye-witness who 

•Kunstmann (1. c. p. 58) speaks of three vessels. I can find only two. 
■ So also, Peschel, Geschichte des Zeitalters der Entdeckungen, p. 331 seq. 

f'Tra maestro e pouenti," says Pietro Pasqualigo, the Venitian envoy 
at the court of Portugal, who received his information from Cortereal's 
companions, and wrote to his family in Venice what he heard about the 
undertaking. See this letter, printed in Biddle's Memoir, p. 237 seq. 



170 VOYAGES OF THE CORTEREALS. 

saw them In Lisbon, as tall, Avell built, and admirably fit for 
labor.* We infer from this statement, that they were not 
Esquimaux from the coast of Labrador, but Indians of the 
Micmac tribe, inhabitants of Newfoundland and Nova Scotia. 
The name of Labrador, though afterwards confined to a 
more northerly region iidiabited by the Esquimaux, here 
includes a territory lying south of it. 

One of the two ships of this expedition arrived at Lisbon, 
October 8, 1501 ; the other, with Cortereal himself and fifty 
of the captured natives, never returned. 

What became of this gallant adventurer, and his large crew, 
is wholly iTuknown ; no trace of them anywhere remains. 

The commander and sailoi's of the second vessel reported, 
that they had seen, in the country which they had visited, 
abundant forests, well adapted for ship-building, large rivers, 
and the sea-coast well stocked with fish of various kinds, 
especially the cod-fish. 

Tliey brought home "a piece of a gilded sword, of Italian 
Avorkmanship," and two silver ear-rings, Avhich they had found 
in the possession of the aborigines. There can be scarcely 
a doubt, that these interesting objects had been left there by 
the Cabots, who, some years before, had visited the same 
reoion. 



[Note. — We are indelited to Dr. Kolil for tliis new light from the Portu- 
guese archives relative to the Cortereal voyages. Neither Mr. Biddle, Mr. 
Bancroft, nor subsequent vrriters on our country, nor even Humboldt, who 
have treated of the early voyages, have made the distinction here noted in 
the voyages of Caspar Cortereal. They have spoken but of one voyage, 

* The letter of the Venitian Pasqualigo. [Pasqualigo says, "They are 
of like color, stature, and aspect, and bear the greatest resemblance to the • 
Gypsies." And again he says, "His serene IMajesty contemplates deriving 
great advantage from the country, not only on account of the timber of 
which he has occasion, but of the inhabitants who are admirably calcu- 
lated for labor, and are the best slaves I have ever seen." — Ed.] 



VOYAGES OF THE CORTEREALS. 171 

and derived their evidence from the letter of Pasqualigo, the Venitian 
ambassador at Lisbon. This letter, which appeared first in a collection of 
voyages published at Vicenza, in Italy, in 1507, entitled "Paesi nova- 
mente retrovati et Novo Moudo," etc. (the country newly discovered and 
called the New World), is dated October 19, 1501, and says, " On the 8th of 
the present month, one of the two caravels, which his most serene majesty 
despatched last year, on a voyage of discovery to the north, under com- 
mand of Gaspar Corterat, arrived, and reports the finding of a country 
distant hence, west and north-west, two thousand miles, heretofore quite 
unknown." He then speaks of his bringing fifty-seven native inhabitantg 
of the country. This letter is written certainly more than a year after the 
sailing of the first expedition, which, in all probability, must have returned 
within the year, and did not bring the natives, as reported by Pasqualigo. 
We therefore infer that the voyage above reported from the Portuguese 
records, must have been prior to the one mentioneti by the ambassador, 
which had arrived but eleven days before the date of his letter. It is con- 
trary to all experience, for those early A'oyages, to occupy the length of 
time required by Pasqualigo's statement. Neither of Cabot's voyages 
much exceeded three month.'*. The first voyage of the Cortereals wa3 
commenced in 1500; the second, in May, 1501. — Ed.] 



4. The Voyage of Miguel Cortereal to the North-west, 
IN THE Year 1502, ix search of his Brother. 

Miguel Cortereal, a younger l)rother of Gaspar, had taken 
a great interest in his brother's enterprise. He had con- 
tributed to the cost of his outfit, and had prepared a vessel 
of his own to accompany him on his second expedition, but 
had been prevented from so doing, by several circumstances.* 
After waiting in vain for the return of his brother, he ob- 
tained from the king a commission for a searching expedition, 
and, at the same time, an extension to himself of the privi- 
leges and donations granted to his brother. 

He sailed from Lisbon with two vessels, on the 10th of 
May, 1502, on a search for his brother ; but never returned, 
and was never heard from afterwards. 

Notwithstanding these disasters, the noble Emanuel, moved 

* See Knnstmann, 1. c. p. 58. 



172 VOYAGES OF THE CORTEREALS. 

with sympathy for his gallant subjects, fitted out a new expe- 
dition in 1503, to ascertain the fate of the adventurers. The 
expedition consisted of two vessels, which, after an unsuc- 
cessful cruise, returned without tidinjrs or trace of the lost 
brothers and their crews.* 

Then the eldest of the three brothers, Vasqueanes Corte- 
real, who had become governor of Terceira, as successor to 
his father, offered to embark for a further search. But to this 
proposal, Emanuel refused to give his consent ; being un- 
willing to risk further the lives of his subjects. 

I believe it ha's been pretty clearly shown, that Gaspar 
Cortereal did not touch tlie coast of Maine on his expedition in 
1500. And there is no evidence, that either he or his brother 
Miguel, in their subsequent voyages of 1501 and 1502, 
visited that coast, although it is by no means improbable : but 
in regard to the time, the place, and other circumstances of 
the unhappy fate of those enterprising adventurers, we are 
left without the slightest evidence or suggestion. We may 
conjecture, with some degree of probability, that their sad 
fate was a retribution, and not an unjust one, by the native 
inhabitants of the country, for the cruel abduction of a portion 
of their people. And that tlie act took place at least south 
of the Esquimaux country, perhaps in Maine, we may infer, 
from the description given of the captured natives. 

Such searching expeditions generally take a wide range, 
because of the uncertainty of the region in which the persons 
missing are lost. We shall see hereafter, that, at a later 
time, a Spanish expedition of this kind, in seeking one of 
their famous captains, lost in the vicinity of the Gulf of 
Mexico, — Fernando De Soto, the discoverer of the Missis- 



* See, upon this expedition, Kunstmann, loc. cit. p. 58, and Peschel, Ge- 
schicLte des Zeitalters der Entdeckuugen, p. 334. Stuttgart, 1858. 



VOYAGES OF THE CORTEREALS. 173 

sippi, — proceeded for this purpose as far north as New Eng- 
land and Newfoundland. It is therefore possible, that the two 
searching vessels of Emanuel looked also into the southern 
harbors of Nova Scotia, or New England, to find the adven- 
turous Cortereals, who had been lost. 



APPENDAGE TO CHAPTER V. 



1. On a Portuguese Chart, No. 8, of the Coasts of New- 
foundland, Labrador, and Greenland, about the Year 
1504. 

No. 8 is the copy of part of a Portuguese chart found in the collec- 
tion of old sea-charts in the archives of the Bavarian Army at Munich ; 
and is a most interesting and precious document for the illustration 
of the Cortereal voyages. 

The author of the map is not mentioned. That it was made in Por- 
tugal is evident from the circumstance, that nothing but Portuguese 
discoveries and names are inscribed upon it. Besides the northern 
section, which we give here, the original mai) contains also a part of 
Eastern Africa, the Madeira and Cape Verde Islands, and that part of 
the coast of Brazil, along which Cabral sailed in the year 1500. The 
map contains nothing of the West Indies, and has not the slightest 
trace of the Spanish discoveries in the new world. Between Brazil 
and the northern parts of America is a broad open space occupied by 
water. Both of these sections of America, which the Portuguese dis- 
covered, lie in the ocean as large islands, well defined in the east, but 
with uncertain boundaries toward the west. 

The year in which the map was made is not indicated. But from 
internal evidence it is nearly certain, that it was drawn very soon after 
the expeditions and discoveries of Cabral in 1500, and of the Cortereals, 
which came to an end in 1503. The map was probably made for 
Emanuel, to combine on one sheet all the discoveries made by his 
captains on the western side of the ocean. We may, therefore, fix its 
date in the year 1504 or 1505.* 

In the east, the section of the map which we present, shows some 
of the countries of the old world, as a part of Ireland and " Islant " 
(Iceland). The latter has its latitude between about 63° and 67° N., 

• Nearly of the same opinion is Peschel, who ascribes its date to " the year 1502 or 
1503." See his work, Geschlchte des Zsitalters der Entdeckungen, p. 331. 




5 p 



S» ■*; •«: -te^"^ ^ 



■* o 




^ 


--^ 




^.^^..tp 


'^'hn 




c?..^ 








r " 
'^■Z 




Co "5 


t- 




3 ^ 


X 


t 


3 


z 


R 


~ 


CJ 


S 





'?^k^ 






•ii' 



r>, 



Q^'. S 





•j: 


i-^C's 






S- 


\^ ^ 


fc" 


C/5 




S 




z 




H 





PORTUGUESE CHART OF 1504. 175 

which is nearly correct, and proves that the author of the map was 
well informed on the subject. Among the names contained in Iceland 
I mention only " hollensis," which is also found on the map of the 
Zeni ; and which indicates the famous old Icelandic residence of the 
"Episcopus Holensis" (Bishop Holar). 

To the west of Iceland appears a large country, which evidently is 
the southern part of Greenland; and though this name is not given, 
it has exactly the configuration of that country. It is placed at about 
the same distance from Iceland as our Greenland, and it ends like that 
in the south, about 00° N.* We are at a loss to say where and from 
what source the Portuguese map-maker, in the year 1504, could have 
found an original for so good a representation of Greenland, if not 
from charts brought home by Gasjjar Cortereal, after his first exjiedi- 
tion in 1.500. I think our chart renders it probable that Cortereal, on 
this voyage, saw and explored Greenland.! The names " C. de S. 
Paulo," and some others, on the east coast of Greenland, I cannot ex- 
plain. They may be names placed by Cortereal on his chart. They 
also appear on other Portuguese maps. 

To the west of Greenland we meet another large tract of country 
called " Terra de cortte Eeal" (the country of Cortereal) ; this is Corte- 
real's principal discovery, and the one granted to him by Emanuel as 
his province. The configuration of the coasts, and the names written 
upon them prove, that parts of Newfoundland and of our present Lab- 
rador are the regions intended. 

The " Cabo de Concepicion" (Cape of Conception), on the southern 
point of the country, is near Cape Race, and was pi'obably the land-fall 
of Cortereal. We still have " Conception Bay," in which I think Corte- 
real had his first anchorage. 

The name, " Baya de S. Cyria," long kept its ground on many old 
maps, and has been often repeated. Our map proves, that it was given 
by Cortereal. It appears to be the present Trinity Bay. " Cabo de 
San Antonio " is our Cape Bona Vista ; and " Rio de Rosa " would seem 
to have been a river emptying into this bay. 

The "Ilha de frey Luis" (the island of brother Louis) was proba- 
bly named in honor of brother Louis, who may have been a priest on 
board the fleet. It is one of the large islands not far from the present 
" Cape Freels," which is an English corruption and contraction of the 
Portuguese " Ilha de frey Luis," and from which no doubt it derived 

♦Peschel (I.e. p. 331) also thinks that His Greenland, "and that it is represented on 
our map with nearly modern accuracy." 
t Peschel (1. c. p. 330) is also of this opinion. 



176 PORTUGUESE CHART OF 1504. 

its name ; so that the memory of this good brother still lives in our 
" Cape Freels." 

To the north of Cape Fi-eels, between it and the modern Cape Bauld, 
the east coast of Newfoundland forms a large, deep gulf, which is indi- 
cated on this map, by a bay entering deeply into the country.* In 
comparing Cortereal's chart with our present map of Newfoundland, 
we must come to the conclusion that Cortereal entered and explored 
nearly every bay and gulf of the east coast of Newfoundland ; for he 
lias noted them all on his chart, although he has given them too high a 
latitude. 

The entrance of the Strait of Belle Isle is not indicated on our map. 
In 55° N. we find the name " Baxos do medo " ( ?) Soon after the coast 
turns to the north-west, and runs in this direction a long way. At the 
point " Baxos do medo " we are in the neighborhood of the northern 
end of Newfoundland and of the south-eastern capes of Labrador. It 
is nearly impossible to indicate the trending of the north-eastern coast 
of Labrador more exactly, than it has been done on this chart. Un- 
happily the chart ends in 62° N., at about the entrance of Hudson's 
Strait. Thus far to the north-west it is probable that Cortereal went 
in 1500; and there was stopped by the ice. 

Like the coast of Labrador and Greenland, the southern part or 
entrance of Davis' Strait is much better given on our chart, than on 
any other before this time, or on any other map for a long time after 
Cortereal. 

In about the latitude of the arctic circle, a dotted line is made on 
this map, which cuts through the northern parts of Iceland, Greenland, 
and Davis' Strait. All the water north of this line has, on the original, 
a dark blue color, which we could not reproduce on our copy. The 
map-maker intended, perhaps, to express by this line the arctic circle, 
and the southern boundaiy of the " Mare congelatum," where Corte- 
real's progress ended. 

To the south of " Cabo de Concepicion'' (near Cape Race), the coast of 
Newfoundland turns to the west, and runs east and west a long dis- 
tance. The coast of Newfoundland has really this direction, and Cor- 
tereal may have looked westward of Cape Race, though he does not 
appear to have followed this route for any considerable distance. There 
are no names placed along this coast. Cortereal may have copied this 
part of his chart from Cabot's, of which he probably had a sketch on 

* How Kuntsmann (Die Entdeckung America's, p. 128) could think that this is the 
mouth of tlie great river St. Lawrence, and the outlet of Lake Ontario, is inconceiva- 
ble to me. Tlie entire explanation which this estimable scholar gives of Cortereal'a 
chart, is evidently erroneous. 



REINEL'S CHART, 1505. 177 

Doard, such as Cosa, in 1500, had made. On Cosa's (Cabot's) chart, the 
south coast of Newfoundland and its continuation follow exactly the 
same line, and have about the same configuration. Cortereal probably 
thought this region hopeless for his purpose of finding a shorter north- 
western route to Eastern Asia. 

It does not appear by this chart that Cortereal, in 1.500, saw the en- 
trance of the Gulf of St. Lawrence, or discovered that Newfoundland 
was an island. " He thought it to be one great mainland." This, or 
something like this, is expressly said in the first and most authentic 
report we have on Cortereal's exi^editions ; * and it is so represented on 
our chart. 

The length of the southern coast of this continent from east to west 
is about three times the length of the east coast of Newfoundland ; 
from which we conclude, that the western end of the coast-line, given 
on our chart, reaches the coast of Maine. 

At Cape Race, the maker of this map began to sketch a coast-line, 
which he has left unfinished, running into tlie water. Wliat he meant 
by it I cannot tell. He has drawn with great accuracy aH the Azores, 
the principal starting-point of the Cortereals. 

If subsequent map-makers had known and copied this original map 
of Cortereal, particularly that part which relates to Labrador, Davis' 
Strait, and Greenland, they would have avoided much misrepresenta- 
tion, and rendered a useful service to science. 

2. On a Chart, No. 9, of Nova Scotia, Newfoundland, and 
Greenland, by Pedro Reinel, made in about 1.505. 

Number 9 is a copy of that section of North America which appears 
on a chart of the Atlantic Ocean preserved in the Royal Library at Mu- 
nich. A fac-simile of this chart was published by the Royal Academy 
of Bavaria in the "Atlas zur Entdeckungengeschichte America's (Atlas 
for the history of discovery of America. Munich, 1859). 

On another part of this map an inscrijition is written in great let- 
ters, which runs thus: "Pedro Reinel a fez" (Pedro Reinel made it). 
According to the Spanish historian Herrera,t Reinel was a Portuguese 
pilot of great fame (Piloto Portuguez de mucha fama) ; who, like many 
Portuguese, entered the Siiauish service some time after 1522. The lan- 
guage of the map is Portuguese. It presents only Portuguese discov- 
eries ; and shows the arms and flags of Portugal, but not of Spain. 
From these circumstances it is probable, that the map was made by 



* See the letter of the Venitian ambassador, Pasqualigo. 
t Herrera, Hist. gen. de las ludias, Dec. Ill, cap. 13. 
12 



178 REINEL'S CHART, 1505. 

Reinel in Portugal before he entered the service of Spain, and proba- 
bly soon after the voyage of the Cortereals and Cabral. We may, 
therefore, assign it to the year 1505.* 

There is one indication of latitude along a perpendicular line, run- 
ning across the entire sheet of the chart; and another indication along 
an oblique or transverse line, which is shorter, and runs only along the 
shores of Northern America. Along the perpendicular line, Cavo Raso 
(Cape Race) has the latitude of 50i° N. Along the oblique line it has 
the latitude of 47° N". This latter line is nearer the truth ; and perhaps 
was added to the map by a later hand. 

The south-eastern part of Newfoundland is here easily recognized, as 
is the case on all the old charts. The cape which was called on former 
maps the Cape of England, or the Cape of the Portuguese, is here for 
the first time named, " Cavo Raso" (the fiat cape), a name which is of 
Portuguese origin, and which may have been introduced by the Corte- 
reals, or by the first Portuguese fishermen on the banks of Newfound- 
land. The name contains a good description of the natural features of 
that cape, wliich is represented by Blunt " as a table-land moderately 
high." t The English, who did not understand the meaning of the Por- 
tuguese word, afterwards changed it to " Cape Race," which has no 
meaning in this connection. 

Our chart shows, in the high north, a nameless country which ends 
toward the south, in about 60° N. There can be no doubt, that Green- 
land is meant. Cape Farewell, the southern end of Greenland, has the 
latitude of 60° N., and is one of those points which, like Cape Race, 
generally has ueai'ly its true position on all the old charts. 

To the west of this nameless country, Greenland, is a broad gulf, and 
a strait running from it in a north-western direction in about 60° N., 
clearly indicating the entrance of Davis' and Hudson's Straits. 

To the south of Hudson's Strait, follow the coasts of Labrador and 
Newfoundland from " Isla da Fortuna" (our present Resolution Isl- 
and (?) to " Cavo Raso." The entrance to the strait of Belle Isle is per- 
haps indicated by the great bay near " C. de Boa Ventura," but not as 
an open strait. The entire coast is covered with many Portuguese 
names, which probably date from the voyage of the Cortereals. I 
cannot enter here upon a detailed examination of these names, but 
only observe that many of them reappear on subsequent charts, and 
some of them have been retained even down to our time ; for instance, 
that of " Y. dos Bocalhas " (Island of the Cod-fish). We still have an 

* Peschel, Geschichte des Zeitalters der Eutdeckungen, p. 332, puts it in the year 
1504. 

t See Blunt, American Coast Tilot, p. 13. New York, 1857. 




X 

O : 



75 
O 



/>>,fJJ uioiihunK sns/j(/j.'!/ utnii'vj/rivii' ijii,>\ 

n/>.>f'o>iuv uii> wiitj/jcf),) voii.i^ii uiihii) p wr?//\^^ 

-uviiim ojiij/i/niii' nixviii /xj »^ up sii/j/n si^jn\'^^ 

J.' s-jj//,}.i/i/'s:>/j// )i/nf wn.i,>/'j.i ^/u>':W/ oiiiuiJ \ < 

s'lfiii.tpyh'n/Joi/ si/x'lh^ .//.loj .im/Jf)()' u/rjjji uiiii.i^ * _A 






^ 



■^^ 




PORTUGUESE MAP OF PARTS OF N. AMERICA. 179 

" Island of Baccalhao " on the coast of Newfoundland. Some of these _ 
old Portuguese names have been changed by subsequent English map- 
makers and mariners. I have already mentioned the name, " Isla de 
frey Luis " (the island of brother Louis) changed to Cape Frcels. An- 
other instance is " Cavo da Espera" (Cape of Hope) changed to Cape 
Speer. In this modern form, we find these ancient names still on our 
present maps of Newfoundland. 

To the west of C. Raso we have on our chart the south coast of New- 
foundland and the entrance to the Gulf of St. Lawrence, clearly indi- 
cated; and further to the west, the rectangular or square form of a 
nameless peninsula in about 45° N., which is, no doubt, the square- 
shaped end of the peninsula of Nova Scotia and Cape Breton. As upon 
Newfoundland and Labrador, so also on this peninsvda, a flag-staff, 
with the Portuguese arms, is planted, which shows that Nova Scotia 
and its neighborhood were once claimed by that nation. I have found 
no map on which the flag-staff of Portugal has been erected so near 
the State of Maine. 

The island of " Sancta Cruz," south of Cape Race, may be interwied 
for the dangerous Sable island, and has its true position. We are in- 
formed by early writers, that Sable Island was known to the Portu- 
guese.* 

3. On a Portuguese Chart, No. 10, of Florida, Nova Scotia, 
Newfoundland, Labrador, and Greenland, made about 
1520. 

Though Sebastian Cabot, in 1498, had surveyed nearly the entire east 
coast of North America, and pronounced it continental ; and though 
Juan de la Cosa, in 1500, following the reports and charts of Cabot, had 
so depicted it on his map ; yet it was a long time before this represen- 
tation was adopted by the map-makers and geographers of the differ- 
ent European nations. Cabot published no report of his voyages ; and 
the maps of Cosa were hung up in the office of the Spanish ministers 
of marine, but were not generally known or acknowledged. We have, 
therefore, many charts and maps in the first quarter of the sixteenth 
century, on which the lands discovered by the English and Portuguese 
in the higher latitudes of the new world, and by the Spaniards in the 
vicinity of the West India islands, are represented as separate coun- 

* Compare on this chart, also, " J. A. Schmeller, Ueber einige altere handschrift 
liche Seekarten," in the " Abhandlungen der I. CI. d. Ak. der Wissenschaften, IV. 
liand. Abth. 1, page 247 seq. And KuD.stmann, Die Entdeckung America's, p. 125 seq. 
Munchen, 1859. 



180 POKTUGUESE MAP OF PARTS OF N. AMERICA. 

tries. On these maps North America is broken up into large islands, 
separated from each other by broad gulfs or straits, and the coasts of 
New England entirely disappear. 

Map No. 10 is a part of one of these representations. The original 
was discovered in the I'oyal collections of the king of Bavaria at Mu- 
nich, and a fac-simile of it has been given by the Royal Academy in 
the work before cited : " Atlas zur Entdeckungsgeschichte America's " 
(An Atlas of the histoi-y of discovery in America). From this we have 
taken our copy. 

The map is evidently of Portuguese origin. The names of places, 
and some of the inscrii^tions, are in the Portuguese language. The 
longer inscriptions are in Latin. The author of it is unknown, as is 
also the precise time of its composition.* 

From the circumstance, however, that Yucatan, which was discov- 
ered in the year 1517, is indicated on the map, and nothing of the dis- 
covery and conquest by Cortes in 1519, everything on the map west of 
Yucatan being designated as unknown ; we infer that the map was 
made between 1518 and 1520. 

The whole of North America is given in three or four large islands. 
First, we have Yucatan and its vicinity. The Gulf of Mexico is open 
toward the west. Then comes "TeraBimini" (the country of Bimi- 
ni), our present Florida and the vicinity. The east coast of Florida and 
the neighboring southern States, runs first toward the north and then 
to the north-east, and ends on the shores of our present States of Geor- 
gia and Carolina, though the latitudes for these regions are too high. 
Spanish ships under Ponce de Leon, in 1513 ; Alaminos, in 1519 ; and 
Lucas Vasquez de Ayllon, in 1520, had sailed along these coasts. The 
coast-line appears to end in the vicinity of Cape Hatteras, and this 
territory is called " Tera Bimini," a name which was introduced by 
the expedition of Ponce de Leon in search of the mythical country and 
fabulous fountain of Bimini, in 1513.t 

After this is a great gulf or open space, represented as water. Fur- 
ther east, in about the longitude of Brazil, the discoveries of the Cor- 
tereals are depicted in nearly the same manner as on the map of 
Reinel (No. 9). The coast of Nova Scotia, on our map, is a little further 
prolonged to the west. The part where New England should be, ap- 
pears as water. 

* See Kunstmanu, Die Entdeckung America's, p. 129 seq. Munich, 1859. 

t [Tliis country is represented by some to have been an island belonging to the Ba- 
hama group, but lying far out in the ocean. The fountain was supposed to possess 
the power of restoring youth. It was an object of eager search by early adventurers. 
-Kd.] 



POETUGUESE MAP OF PARTS OF N. AMERICA. 181 

Newfoundland and Labrador are named " Bacalnaos," under wliich 
name Nova Scotia is also included. Greenland, as usual, is called Lab- 
rador. 

The Portugfuese inscription, added to Nova Scotia and the island of 
Cape Breton, describes it as " a country discovered by Bretons." 

The inscription written upon Labrador literally translated is this : 
" The Portuguese saw this country, but did not enter it." 

The long Latin inscription, which seems to be intended for all these 
regions, may be thus translated : " This country was first discovered by 
Gaspar Cortereal, a Portuguese, and he brought from there wild and 
barbarous men and white bears. There are to be found in it plenty 
of animals, birds, and fish. In the following year he was shipwrecked 
and did not return ; the same happened to his brother Michael in the 
next year." 

Iceland (Islanda) has its true position and latitude on the east of 
Greenland. A pei-pendicular line, on which the degrees of latitude are 
indicated, runs through the whole map. It is the famous " line of de- 
marcation," by which, at the treaty of Tordesilas (June 7, 1494), the 
world was divided between Spain and Portugal. The line sets off to 
Portugal, 1. The greater section of Brazil, which we have not repro- 
duced on our map. 2. Newfoundland, Labrador, and Greenland, which 
we have retained in our copy. The Portuguese flag covers all these 
regions. The Spanish flag is planted " in Tera Bimini." 

The latitude and longitude, given on our map to the Portuguese dis- 
coveries, are much more correct, than those given to the Spanish do- 
minions ; which fact proves, that the Portuguese map-maker had not 
very good authority for his Spanish insertions. The group of the Azores, 
however, is placed too near the northern part of the continent. That 
they always are laid down in connection with Greenland and New- 
foundland, is explained from the circumstance, that those islands were 
the starting-points of the Cortereals for their excursions to the north. 
Several of the Cortereals being governors of the Azores, they consid- 
ered the northern part of America, " Bacallaos " and the vicinity, as a 
part of their hereditary government. 

In the central parts of America near St. Domingo, our map has a 
Latin inscription, of which a literal translation is as follows : " The 
country of the Antipodes, of the king of Castile, discovered by Chris- 
topher Columbus, the Genoese." This name, " The country of the An- 
tipodes," appears to be the name adopted by our map-maker for all the 
surrounding islands and countries, or for the whole of America. 



182 PORTUGUESE MAP OF PARTS OF K AMERICA. 

The results of the examination of these maps, for the early history 
of Maine, may be summed up thus : 

1. No coast of New England whatever is here indicated. A void 
space appears where it ought to be. 

2. New England, like the rest of America, is comprised under the 
name of" The country of the Antipodes." 

3. The flags and frontiers of the Portuguese dominions come very 
near to Maine. 



CHAPTER VI. 

ENGLISH, SPANISH, AND FRENCH VOYAGES, DESIGNED OU 
ACCOMPLISHED, SUBSEQUENT TO THE EXPEDITIONS OF 
THE CABOTS AND THE COETEREALS. 



1. Two Patexts of Henry VII, of England, to Naviga- 
tors IN 1501 AND 1502. — English Voyages to New- 
foundland IN THE BEGINNING OF THE SIXTEENTH 

Century. 

Whether Sebastian Cabot made a voyage to the new 
world in 1499 is uncertain ; and we have no authentic infor- 
mation as to his employment after his return in 1498, for 
several years. No early writer speaks of him until the year 
1512, when, according to Herrera, he accepted from Ferdi- 
nand an invitation to Spain. His fame, as the projector of 
great circle-sailing, as the earnest advocate of a north-western 
passage to India, and as the discoverer of a new region, was 
widely spread. • 

The knowledge of his discovery and adventures must early 
have reached Spain and Portugal, and inspired the sover- 
eigns of those countries with desire to eno;ao;e in further 
explorations in the north-west. The expedition of Dornelos 
in Spain, and of the Cortereals in Portugal, may have been 
the direct results of the voyages of 1497 and 1498. 

We seek in vain for the cause why Cabot himself did not 
continue the work so successfully commenced by him, and 
why he left its accomplishment to others. Had he despaired, 



184 EARLY ENGLISH VOYAGES. 

after all his arctic trials, of finding an open route to the 
Molluccas? Or was he discouraged by not finding, on his 
long exploring voyage from Labrador to Florida, a single 
attractive section of the coast, worthy of further exami- 
nation ? * 

However this may have been, there is nothing to show that 
Sebastian Cabot entered on a new enterprise for a long time ; 
whilst others, stimulated by the fixme of his discoveries, fol- 
lowed his track. 

As in Portugal and Spain, so also in England, we recog- 
nize some traces of the " quickening impulse of his, in some 
respects, successful enterprise." In 1501, and again in 1502, 
Henry VII. issued patents for discoveries in foreign lands. 

The first of these, dated March 19, 1501, is alluded to 
by Lord Bacon in his history of Henry VILf But more 
recently, Mr. Biddle has discovered the original document in 
the Rolls Chapel, in London ; and has, for the first time, pub- 
lished it in his memoir of Cabot. | Its contents are similar 
to those of the first patent given to John Cabot in 149G, 
which seems itself to have been copied from the commis- 
sions given by the Spanish kings to their adventurers. 

The second patent bears date December 9, 1502, and is 
granted to a portion of the same patentees ; namely, Thomas 
Ashehurst, John and Francis Fernandus, and John Gunsolus, 
Portuguese, named in the first patent, together with Hugh 
Elliott ; and conveys similar, but even more extensive privi- 
leges. 

These patents gave a roving commission to the parties to 

* [See on this, Ramusio, " . . . di ritornarmene in Ingliilterra : dove 
giunto trovai grandissimi tumulti di popoli sollevati, e della gueri^a in 
Scotia: ne piu era in consideratione alcuna il navigare a queste parti, per 
ilche me ne venni in Spagna al Re Catliolico," vol. 1, fol. 374. 1563. — Ed.] 

t See Bacon's History of King Henry VII, p. 189. London, 1029. 

J See this work, p, 312. London, 1832. 



EARLY ENGLISH VOYAGES. 185" 

explore, at their own expense, all islands and regions " in 
the eastern, western, southern, and northern seas heretofore 
unknown to Christians." 

What was done under these broad commissions, is no- 
where reported, so far as we know. It is supposed that one 
voyage was made, but no particulars of it exist. 

That explorations in NcAvfoundland and its neighborhood 
were intended, and that a connection existed between the 
English expedition and the Portuguese undertaking of the 
Cortereals, appears probable from the circumstance, that 
among the principal patentees were the three above-named 
"Portuguese Squyres from the Isles of Surry s " (Azores), 
where one of the Cortereals was then governor, and where, 
the year before, 1500, Gaspar de Cortereal had touched on 
his expedition to the north-west. 

Mr. Biddle thinks that one voyage at least, in the year 
1501, was made. He infers this, first, from the improbability 
of the three Portuguese "Squyres" remaining idle in Eng- 
land for nearly two years ; secondly, from the probability that 
the patentees, by an experimental voyage, may have turned to 
account the first patent, and therefore called for a second ; 
and thirdly, from the fact, that the English chronicler. Stow, 
states in his Annals, that three Indians, "taken in the New- 
found Islandes" were presented, in 1502, to Henry VII.* 

Another circumstance, not mentioned by Mr. Biddle, ap- 
pears to me to sustain his supposition. Hakluyt, in his great 
work,! gives "a brief extract concerning the discovery of 

* See Biddle, Memoir, p. 228 seq. He also quotes (p. 226, Am er. edit.) 
from entries in the account of the Privy Purse expenses of Henry VII, 
this entry: "7 January, 1502, To men of Bristol that found Th' Isle, £5; 
30 September, 1502, To the Merchants of Bristol that have been in the News 
founde Launde, £20." [Other items from the Privy Purse account are 
afterwards quoted by our Author. — Ed.] 

t Hakluyt, Voyages, etc, vol. 3, p. 10. 1600. 



186 EARLY ENGLISH VOYAGES. 

Newfoundland, taken out of the book of Mr. Robert Thorne 
to Doctor Leigh," in which Thorne mentions " that his father 
had been one of the discoverers of Newfoundland, in company 
with another merchant of Bristol, named Hugh Elliot." 
Elliot was one of the patentees named in the grant of Decem- 
ber, 1502.* He and his associates would scarcely have been 
called by Thorne '"''discoverers of Newfoundland," if they 
had not made a voyage thither. 

From certain entries in the account of the Privy Purse 
expenses of Henry VII, it appears, that after the voyages 
of the Cabots, an intercourse was kept up for several years 
between England and the newly discovered regions. These 
entries are too remarkable not to be mentioned here. 

On Nov. 17, 1503, the king paid one pound to " a man 
that brought hawkes from the Newfound island;" on April 
8, 1504, two pounds to a priest, " who was going to that 
island ; " and on Aug. 25, 1505, a small sum to a man who 
brought " wylde cats and popyngays of the Newfound island 
to Richmond." 

The king had before made similar small presents to persons 
who had been out w^ith the Cabots, namely : " On Aug. 10, 
1497, 10 pounds to him that found the new isle." Some 
have supposed that John Cabot was rewarded in this manner ; 
others, with more probability, that this small royal present 
was given only to the man on board the Matthew, who first 
discovered land. " On March 24, 1498, To Lanslot Thirkill, 
of London, upon a prest for his ship going toward the New 
Islande, 20 pounds ; on April 1, 1498, to Thomas Bradley 
and Launcelot Thirkill, going to the New Isle, 30 pounds. "f 

These memoranda, which have been brought to light by 
Mr. Biddle,| seem pretty clearly to prove the continuation 

* See Biddle, 1. o. p. 225. 

t See Anderson's History of the Colonial Church, vol. 1, p. 8. 

i See Biddle, Memoir, p. 234. 



PORTUGUESE FISHERMEN ON THE BANKS. 187 

of voyages between England and Newfoundland in the begin- 
ning of the sixteenth century. 

It is a very curious circumstance, that the country in 
which the Cabots started their idea for a navigation to the 
north-west, and in which they at first proclaimed their dis- 
covery of the rich fishing-banks near their New-found-Isles, 
did not at once profit by it so much as their neighbors, the 
French and the Portuguese, as we shall hereafter relate. 
During the first half of the sixteenth century we hear little 
of English fishing and commercial expeditions to the great 
banks ; although they had a branch of commerce and fishery 
with Iceland. Perhaps, having the fish-market of this north- 
ern country at their disposal, for some time they did not seek 
new fishing-grounds. " It was not until the year 1548, that 
the English government passed the first act for the encour- 
agement of the fisheries on the banks of Newfoundland, after 
which they became active competitors in this profitable occu- 
pation."* 

2. Portuguese Fishekmen on the Newfoundland Banks. 

Gaspar Cortereal undertook his enterprise with the lofty 
intention of finding the rich countries of the east. " But," 
says the Spanish historian, Gomara, " he found no passage." 

King; Emanuel, havincp heard of the high trees o-rowing; in 
the northern countries, and having seen the aborigines who 
appeared so well qualified for labor, thought he had found a 
new slave-coast like that which he owned in Africa ; and 
dreamed of the tall masts which he would cut, and the men- 
of-war which he would build, from the forests of the country of 
the Cortereals. But if he had made an experiment with his 

♦Memorial volume of the Popham Celebration, Aug. 29, 1862, p. 38. 
Portland, 1863. 



188 PORTUGUESE FISHERMEN ON THE BANKS. 

American Indians, he would soon have known, that, as labor- 
ers, they were not to be compared with the negroes from 
Africa. And as to the masts for his men-of-war, he would 
also have found, that he could procure them at a much 
cheaper rate from the Baltic, or some other European country 
in the neighborhood of Portugal, than from the distant land 
of the Cortereals, where no harbors, no anchoring stations, 
and no roads existed, and no saw-mills had been erected. 

The great expectations raised by the Cortereals had no 
immediate results. But another discovery of Cortereal, as 
well as of Cabot, had revealed to the Portuguese the wealth 
to be derived from the fish, particularly cod-fish, which 
abounded on that coast. The fishermen of Portugal and of 
the Western Islands, when this news was spread among them» 
made preparations for profiting by it, and soon extended their 
fishing excursions to the other side of the ocean. 

According to the statement of a Portuguese author, very 
soon after the discoveries by the Cortereals, a Portuguese 
Fishing Company was formed in the harbors of Vianna, 
Aveiro, and Terceira, for the purpose of colonizing New- 
foundland and making establishments upon it.* Nay, already, 
in 1506, three vears after the return of the last searching ex- 
pedition for the Cortereals, Emanuel gave order, " that the 
fishermen of Portugal, at their return from Newfoundland, 
should pay a tenth part of their profits at his custom-houses." f 
It is certain, therefore, that the Portuguese fishermen must, 
previous to that time, have been engaged in a profitable busi- 
ness. And this is confirmed by the circumstance, that they 
originated the name of " tierra de Bacalhas" (the Stock-fish- 
country), and gave currency to it; though the word, like the 

* See Peschel, Geschichte des Zeitalters der Entdeckungen,p. 334. Stutt- 
gart, 1858. 

t See Kunstmauu, Die Entdeckung America's, pp. 69 and 95. 



PORTUGUESE FISHERMEN ON THE BANKS. 189 

cod-fishery itself, appears to he of Germanic origin.* The 
name may have been given by the Portuguese fishermen at 
first, to what the king of Portugal and his official map-makers 
called " terra de Cortereal " (Cortereal's land) ; that is to say, 
to our present Newfoundland ; and then have been extended, 
with the progi'ess of their discoveries, to the adjacent coun- 
tries. The nations, who followed tliem in the fishing busi- 
ness, imitated their example, and adopted the name " country 
of the Bacalhas" (or, in the Spanish form, Baccallaos), 
though sometimes interchangincr it with names of their own 
invention, as the " Newfoundland," " Terre neuve," etc. 

Enterprises in such a new branch of activity, must, of 
course, have been attended with great difficulties ; some pre- 
liminary explorations must have been necessary to find the 
best places for fishing, the most convenient harbors for refuge, 
the easiest coasts for watering, for repairs, and for drying the 
fish. 

The Portuguese Fishing Company probably made these 
experiments ; and their first fishing voyages were undoubt- 

*The cod-fish was caught on the coasts of Europe from time immemo- 
rial, by the Scandinavians, Germans, Dutch, and English, in the northern 
waters of the continent, and toward Iceland. These Germanic nations had 
long called it by the name of " Cabliauwe," or " Kabbeljouwe," and with 
some transposition of the letters, "Backljau." The name, in several 
forms, had been used long before the discoveries of the Cabots and Corte- 
reals, in many Flemish and German books and documents. The root of 
the word appears to be the Germanic " bolch," meaning fish. The Portu- 
guese, who had no cod-fish on their coasts in Europe, but who had prob- 
ably known it before the Cortereals, by way of the Netherlands, adopted 
the Germanic name iii the above-mentioned form " Bacalhao " (pronounced 
like the German Backljau); and then becoming the fii'st and most active 
fishermen on the coasts of Newfoundland, communicated this form of the 
word to the rest of the world. That the name should have been introduced 
by the Cabots, is, for many reasons, most improbable ; and that they should 
have heard and received the name from the Indians, is certainly not true ; 
though both these facts are asserted by Peter Martyr, De Orbe Novo, 
Dec. Ill, cap. 6. 



190 PORTUGUESE FISHERMEN ON THE BANKS. 

edly, at the same time, real exploring expeditions, continuing 
the work commenced by the Cortei'eals. 

It is, therefore, matter of regret, that no journals of the 
voyages of these first Portuguese fishermen have come down 
to us, and that we know so very little of the beginning and 
progress of their fisheries. Were we better informed on 
those points we should probably find, now and then, exploring 
Portuguese merchants and fishermen on shores somewhat dis- 
tant from Newfoundland, and perhaps also on the coasts of 
Nova Scotia and of the Gulf of Maine ; and we might be able 
to show how some of the Portuguese geographical names, so 
widely scattered on all the old maps of the countries about 
the " Golfo Quadrado " (the Gulf of St. Lawrence), origi- 
nated. Many of them probably were not given by the official 
expeditions of the Cortereals, but came gradually into use 
among the fishermen, and were afterwards adopted on the 
maps and in the books of geographers. 

A Scandinavian author informs us,, that sometimes in 
stormy seasons, during the sixteenth century, Portuguese 
fishermen were blown off from the Newfoundland Banks, 
and driven by westerly gales to the unfriendly shores of 
Greenland.* If such events happened Avith westerly stoi-ms 
on the coast of Greenland, they also may have happened 
with easterly gales on the coast of New England, although no 
report exists of such cases. The coast of the Gulf of Maine 
lies at about the same distance south-west of Newfoundland, 
as the coast of Greenland does to the north-east. The Por- 
tuguese fishermen may thus have often appeared on our coast, 
and become acquainted with it. 

They continued their expeditions to Newfoundland and its 
neighborhood for a long time. They were often seen there 
by later English and other visitors during the course of the 

* See Kunstraann, 1. c. pp. 70 and 95. 



PORTUGUESE FISHERMEN ON THE BANKS. 191 

sixteenth century ; for instance, according to Ilerrera, in 
1519;* again by the Enghsh in 1527 ;t and again by Sir 
Humphrey Gilbert in 1588. This Enghsh navigator, or liis 
historian, praises " the Portugal fishermen " he met there, 
for their kindness "above those of other nations," and for 
the liberal assistance which they rendered him. " They pre- 
sented him with wines, marmelades, most fine ruske and 
bisket, sweat oyles, and sundry dilicacies." $ He states also, 
that the Portuguese had made a very interesting settlement 
for shipwrecked seamen vipon " Sable Island," that danger- 
ous spot in the vicinity of Nova Scotia, famous for shipwrecks 
and disasters. "Some Portugals," he says, "above thirty 
year past," consequently about the middle of the sixteenth 
century, "put into the same island both neat and swine to 
breed, which were since exceedingly multiplied." Gilbert 
and his men thought it extremely convenient "to have such 
a store of cattle in an island, lying so near unto the maine 
which they intended to plant upon."§ 

* See Herrera, Dec. TI, lib. 5, cap. 3. 

t See Purchas, Pilgrims, torn. 3, p. 809. 

t See Hakluyt, "The Principal Navigations," etc., p. 687. London, 1589 
[The Portuguese engaged in thi.s fishery as early as 1501, according to good, 
authoi-ities, and perhaps under the charter of Henry VII. In 1.578, they 
had fifty ships employed in that trade, and England as many more, and 
France 150. In 1583, Sir Humphrey Gilbert found in the harbor of St. 
John, when he took jjossession of the island, twenty Portuguese and 
Spanish vessels, and sixteen of other nations. So important had the fishe- 
ries become to English commerce, that, in 1626, 150 ships were sent out 
from Devonshire alone. How singularly has the prophetic voice of the 
New England explorer, Capt. John Smith, been fulfilled, when, in his 
account of the country, he says, "Therefore honorable and worthy coun- 
trymen, let not the meannesse of the word Jishe distaste you ; for it will 
afford as good gold as the mines of Guiana or Potassie, with lesse hazard 
and chai-ge, and more certainty and facility." — Ed.] 

§ See Hakluyt, 1. c. p. 691. Frencli authors say, that this useful estab- 
lishment on Sable Island was made by French fishermen, and not by Por- 
tuguese. 



192 SPANISH VOYAGES TO NEWFOUNDLAND. 

From all these reports it is clear, that the Portuguese, 
throughout the whole course of the century with the history 
of which we are occupied, were active on the banks and 
shores of Newfoundland, and found refuge in storms in its 
harbors, and even in those as far north as Greenland, and 
probably also as far south as Maine. They hod thus made 
themselves prominent and useful in the progress of the explo- 
ration and discovery of this part of ovir coast. This may be 
considered as a continuation and consequence of the work 
commenced by King Emanuel, and the energetic though 
unfortunate brothers Cortereal, who are justly celebrated in 
the geographical history of the north-east of America. 

The discoveries of the Portuguese fishermen have been 
delineated by some of their countrymen on charts and maps ; 
some of which, coming to our time, have given us a clearer 
knowledge of their acts. I shall reproduce, in subsequent 
pages, some of these charts, and examine their contents. 

3. Voyages to Newfoundland, proposed by Juan Dor'ne- 
Los, Juan de Agramonte, and Sebastian Cabot, in 
1500, 1511, AND 1515. 

When Ferdinand and Isabella of Spain heard, in 1496, of 
the proposed voyage of Cabot, they ordered their ambassador 
in England, De Puebla, to notify and warn the king, that he 
could not engage in such an enterprise, without prejudice to 
the rights of Spain and Portugal. And when, in 1498, 
Cabot's discovery had been actually made, and possession of 
the country taken in the name of the king of England, the 
Spanish ambassador then in England, Don Pedro de Ayala, 
wrote to his sovereigns, that he had protested against such 
acts on the ground, that Newfoundland was already in pos- 
session of their Spanish majesties. 

We may well suppose that the Spanish sovereigns would 



SPANISH VOYAGES TO NEWFOUNDLAND. 193 

not content themselves with a mere protestation against what 
the}' considered inroads upon their territorial rights. And 
indeed the Spanish archives furnish evidence, that in the 
beginning of the sixteenth century, Spain not only kept her 
eyes on the northern regions, but had planned, if not exe- 
cuted, voyages toward them. 

In the year 1500, when the king of Portugal was fitting 
out Cortereal for his voyage of discovery, the king of Spain 
summoned to his court Juan Dornelos, a Spanish navigator, 
to plan an exploring expedition. 

Navarrete, the Spanish historian, thinks that this voyage 
of Dornelos was projected for the purpose of reconnoitering 
the seas and countries discovered by the Cabots. It is 
uncertain whether the project was carried into effect.* 

In the same year, the Spanish navigator, Hojeda, was 
instructed to follow the track of the English discoverers in 
the north ; but whether he did this, or what were the results, 
we have no information.! 

Joanna, of Castile, called the Insane, daughter of Ferdi- 
nand of Aragon, gave a commission and letters patent, in 
1511, to Juan de Agramonte, for an exploring expedition to 
the north-west ; but whether it was undertaken and with 
what results, no memorials remain to show. The instructions 
given, and the preliminary proceedings are too interesting in 
this connection to be omitted. In these letters it is recited, 
that Agramonte had formerly made a proposition for a simi- 
lar enterprise to her father, King Ferdinand, and received 
from him a commission for a voyage of discovery. The in- 
teresting points of this commission are as follows : 

Agramonte was to go out with two ships, " to discover a 

*See Navarrete, Colleccion de los viages y descubrimientos, etc., torn. 3, 
pp. 41 and 77, Madrid, 1829; and Biddle, Memoir of Sebastian Cabot, p. 236. 

t See upon this, Teschel, Geschichte des Zeitalteis der Entdeckungen, 
p. 316, note 2. Stuttgart, 1858. 
13 



194 SPANISH VOYAGES TO NEWFOUNDLAND. 

certain new land within the limits appertaining to the queen 
of Castile, and to know the secret of this country " (" a des- 
cobrir cierta tierra nueva en los limitos que a nos pertenecen, 
para ir a saber el secreto de la tierra nueva"). 

He was to take on board his vessels only such mariners 
and seamen as were subjects of the queen, with the excep- 
tion of two pilots, whom he might take from the mariners of 
Brittany in France, or any other nation well acquainted in 
those parts. 

He had liberty of going to Brittany to engage these pilots ; 
and might then bring from thence to Spain wine, meat, meal, 
and other provisions for his expedition, without paying any 
duty to tlie queen. 

He was allowed to start for Newfoundland at any time 
convenient to himself, and might go to that part of it which 
pleased him best; but should take care not to invade any 
portion belonging to the king of Portugal, and should keep 
within the limits pointed out by the agreement between the 
kings of the two countries. 

Agramonte was ordered to attempt a settlement (pobla- 
cion) in the new country in the name of the queen of 
Castile ; and if he succeeded, he shovdd be made hereditary 
chief justice of the colony for himself and his heirs, and 
should designate all the other officers of the new country. 

If he brought good tidings from the new country, and if 
he found there signs of gold and other useful things, he 
should be declared a perpetual officer of the queen, and 
should have a good salary during his life. On his return 
to Spain, he was required to have all the gold and precious 
things which God's pleasure might allow him to bring from 
Newfoundland, accurately registered and numbered, and 
put on pa{)er before a royal notary of the Spanish harbor in 
which he should happen to arrive.* 

* See Navarrete, 1. c. p. 122 seq. 



SPANISH VOYAGES TO NEWFOUNDLAND. 195 

We may add to these interesting details of the agreement 
between Agramonte and Ferdinand, confii*med by Queen 
Joanna in October, 1511, the fbUowing remarks : 

We do not learn in what year Agramonte made his first 
proposition to Ferdinand, and obtained his first commission. 
It was probably some years before 1511 ; and this proves that 
Spain, after the time of Dornelos, had not lost sight of New- 
foundland. 

It is apparent from the details in regard to ofiices and 
other subjects in the commission, that the principal object 
of the voyage was to make a Spanish settlement in 
Newfoundlantl. This royal Spanish commission to Agra- 
monte reminds us of another well known royal English 
commission, given at a later date, in 1583, to Sir Humphrey 
Gilbert, who was also sent out to make a plantation in New- 
foundland. 

Newfoundland (la tierra nueva) was, at that time, under- 
stood in Spain to include not only the present island of New- 
foundland, but other countries which had been seen, or might 
still be found to the north, Avest, and south of it. The royal 
commission gave warning to Agramonte to avoid carefully 
those parts of which the king of Portugal had taken pos- 
session, and to go only to those sections of "Tierra nueva," 
which fell within the limits of Spain. The Cortereals, 
havino; discovered for the kino; of Portugal the east coast 
of Newfoundland and the northern regions, those sections of 
country, according to the Spanish charts made at the time, 
were considered as under the dominion of the king of Por- 
tugal. If Agramonte was not to touch those parts, his 
expedition must have been destined to some more southern 
and western section of " Tierra nueva," which might then 
be seen delineated on the charts of Cosa (1500) and Reinel 
(1510) ; and it is, therefore, not improbable, that the expedi- 



196 SPANISH VOYAGES TO NEWFOUNDLAND. 

tlon was really destined, either for the coasts of New England, 
or for some country nearer to them, than Newfoundland : for 
instance, to the "tierra de los Bretones" (the country of 
the Bretons). To this country, the pilots from Brittany, 
whom Agramonte was to take with him, probably would 
have conducted him first of all. 

We may, therefore, with a certain degree of probability, 
regard this enterprise of Agramonte as an expedition destined 
to our regions, and an attempt to make a Spanish settlement 
somewhere along the coast of the Gulf of Maine, often 
included under the nam6 of "tierra de los Bretones." 

When I come to treat of the navigators of Brittany and 
Normandy, I will show that, in former times, they were in 
the habit of enlisting as pilots in Spanish and Portuguese 
expeditions to distant countries. It is curious to learn from 
our document, that, in 1511, they had become so expert in 
long voyages, at least in the direction of the north-east of 
North America, that the government of Spain deemed it 
best to recommend the employment of these pilots from 
Brittany. This circumstance proves, that as early as 1511, 
the Britons were best acquainted with the coasts comprised 
under the names of "Tierra nueva" and "Tierra de los 
Bretones," 

From all these formal proceedings and preparations, it 
would be natural to conclude that Agramonte had really 
undertaken this grand voyage. " But unhappily," says 
Navarrete, "we are left uninformed respecting the results 
of this expedition. No Spanish historian speaks of them."* 
It may be, that, like so many other gallant adventurers 
to the new world, he perished in his enterprise, and never 
returned to Spain. 

* Navarrete, 1. c. p. 43. 



SPANISH VOYAGES TO NEWFOUNDLAND. 197 

But notwithstanding these numerous failures, Spain did 
not relinquish the idea of northern exploration. 

Sebastian* Cabot had been in the service of Spain since 
1512, and we may suppose that he would favor undertakings 
to explore still farther the field of his first discovery. And 
we learn from the first chronicler of the Spanish discoveries, 
Peter Martyr, that in the years following Agramonte, Spain 
continued to direct her attention to the north-western regions. 
Peter Martyr says, in a letter written in 1515, " Cabot is 
daily expecting that ships will be furnished to him, with 
which he at last may discover that hidden secret of nature " 
(the existence of a north-west passage) ; and he adds, " I 
think that he will start for his exploration in the month of 
March of the next year, 1516."* 

But Ferdinand, the great patron of discovery and of Cabot, 
died on the 23d of January, 1516. This event seems to 
have put an end to this contemplated expedition of Cabot. 

That the Bretons and Normans, in their fishing expedi- 
tions, visited countries distant from their fishing-grounds, and 
made discoveries there, appears by what Herrera occasionally 
relates. This Spanish historian, in his Annals of the Spanish 
Navigations, under the date of 1526, makes the following 
remarks : 

" Nicolaus Don, a native of Brittany, wrote this year to 
the emperor, that in going with thirty mariners to the fish- 
eries of Bacallaos he had met with stormy weather, and been 
driven to a country which belonged to the emperor's domin- 
ions ; and that he had found the people of that country of 
good manners and fashion, and that they wore collars and 
other ornaments of gold." From this and other signs, which 
he had observed, he judged, that it was a rich country, and 
he proposed to the emperor to enter the Spanish service, and 

* See the Latin extract of Peter Martyr, given in Biddle's Memoir, p. 101. 



198 SPANISH VOYAGES TO NEWFOUNDLAND.' 

go to tliat coLmtiyfor traffic; giving to liis majesty the fourth 
part of the profit of his first voyage, and then being allowed 
to trade there, as the emperor's vassal. 

The emperor acknowledged the Frenchman's letter and 
thanked him for his good-will, " knowing very well, that if 
he should deny him the license, he, nevertheless, would make 
the trafficking voyage without license." He, therefore, an- 
swered said Don, that he approved his proposal ; that he 
might come with his companions ; and that he should have 
the despatches wdiich he wished.* 

The country to which Don was driven, and which he 
thought belonged to the king of Spain, could not have been 
on the coast of Newfoundland or north of it ; because the 
Bretons must have known that these regions, since the time 
of the Cortereals, were considered as belonging to the domin- 
ions of Portugal. Neither could it have been directly west 
of Newfoundland, or around the Gulf of Canada, or in Nova 
Scotia (the so-called country of the Bretons) ; for here a 
Frenchman would have knowm himself to be in the domin- 
ions of his own country. 

We should, therefore, look for this country somewhere 
south-west of Nova Scotia, toward Norumbega and Flor- 
ida, the latter of which was decidedly under the Spanish rule. 
As a vessel from the great banks would not, probably, be 
driven very far to the south-west, we may justly conclude 
that the country which Don had found, was the coast of 
Maine, or some part of New England ; and that the golden 
ornaments of which he spoke, existed only in his imagina- 
tion. 

At all events, this affiiir, incidentally mentioned by Her- 
rera, proves that the Bretons, and other fishermen of the 

*See Herrera, Historia General, etc., Dec. Ill, lib. 10, cap. 9. Madrid, 
1601. 



FRENCH VOYAGES AFTER CORTEREAL. 199 

banks, were sometimes driven to distant countries ; and that 
they trafficked with the aborigines. I say " sometimes," but 
we might say, " very often." For one such case, which came 
to the knowledge of Herrera, we may well suppose there 
were many which escaped the knowledge of himself and 
other historians. 

4. French Voyages to the North-east of America, 
AFTER Cabot and Cortereal. 

Soon after the exploring expeditions of the Cabots and 
Cortereals, there appeared in our waters the ships and mari- 
ners of another nation, which, next to England, has been the 
most prominent actor in the discovery and colonization of the 
northern portion of America, and particularly of the State 
of Maine. 

The inhabitants of the little harbors of Normandy and 
Brittany, the great peninsulas of France, stretching out, like 
Great Britain, toward the west, and washed by the waves of 
the Atlantic Ocean, have been fishermen and mariners from 
a remote time. The people of Brittany were a colony from 
Great Britain ; and the French Normans had in their veins 
the blood of the Scandinavian Northmen, whose heroic spirit 
and love of the sea they inherited. No wonder, then, that 
they should follow the footsteps of their forefathers to the 
north-east of America. All that the French Normans ac- 
complished there may be considered, in a certain degree, as 
a continuation of the enterprises of the old Northmen in these 
regions, And, to a certain degree also, this general remark 
may be applied to all that was afterwards accomplished for 
the discovery and settlement of North America by the Eng- 
lish ; who were in part descendants of the old Northmen. 
The entire activity of the nations of Northern Europe from 
the old Northmen down to the present settlers of English 



200 FRENCH VOYAGES AFTER CORTEREAL. 

blood in New England, is, in this respect, one and the same 
series of connected undei'takings. 

The names of the ports of Dieppe, Honfleur, St. Male, 
Brest, La Rochelle, etc., were mentioned in the maritime 
history of France long before Columbus. From the very be- 
ginning of the modern age of discovery, many expeditions had 
been undertaken from several of these ports to the Canary 
Islands, and to southern points of Africa ; in which direction 
the French, under the command of their captains, Bethen- 
court of Rochelle, Cousin of Dieppe, and Gonneville of Hon- 
fleur, became the rivals, and in some cases the leaders of the 
Portuguese and Spaniards.* 

These inhabitants of the western coast of France were also 
among the first who profited by the discoveries of the Cabots 
and Cortereals, and who followed in the wake of the Portu- 
guese fishermen toward the north-west cod-fish country. 

The harbors of Brittany and Normandy were about mid- 
way between Bristol and Lisbon, and from both sides the 
news of the English and Portuguese expeditions, and the fame 
of "Bacallaos" and " Labrador," must soon have reached 
them. But they had no enterprising king at the head of 
their affairs, like Emanuel of Portugal, or even Henry 
VII, of England. Indeed, they had scarcely any king at all ; 
for the kings of the interior of France had only just then 
begun to extend their dominion toward the coasts of the At- 
lantic. 

The fishermen and merchants of Brittany and Normandy 
were obliged, therefore, to act for themselves. Their ports 
were almost independent communities in which everything 
was left to private enterprise. Great official expeditions, 
favored by a powerful government and royal favor, became 

* See the work, L. Estancelin, Recherches sur les voyages et d(5couTer- 
tes des navigateurs Normands, p. 160. Paris, 1832. 



FEENCH VOYAGES AFTER CORTEBEAL. 201 

possible in France only at a later date, when Francis I. had 
brought the wliolc kino;dom under one government. 

o o o 

But instead of an enterprising king, those ports had their 
associations of fishermen and merchants, and other commercial 
institutions. In some of them, as in Dieppe in Normandy, 
hydrography and cosmography had been cultivated at an 
early date.* Dieppe also possessed, in the first quarter of 
the sixteenth century, such intelligent and enterprising ship- 
owners and merchants as the celebrated Angos, father and 
son, who became widely known in the history of navigation 
and discovery.! 

The first voyages of the Bretons of St. Malo, and the Nor- 
mans of Dieppe to Newfoundland, are said to have occur- 
red as early as 1504 ; only one year after the last Portu- 
guese searching expedition for the Cortereals. The first 
French fishing voyages were, without doubt, real exploring 
expeditions. And as everything was then new to them, it is 
much to be regretted that no reports of their discoveries have 
been preserved. They probably visited places of which the 
Portuguese had not taken possession ; and we therefore find 
them at the south of Newfoundland, and especially at the 
island of Cape Breton, to which they gave the name, still 
retained, — the oldest French name on the American north- 
east coast. 

Two years later, in 1506, Jean Denys of Honfleur, a very 
expert and able navigator, is mentioned " in very good old 
memoirs," — so they are called by Charlevoix, the historian of 
Canada,^ — as having explored, in company with his pilot 

* See M. L. Vitet, Histoire des anciennes villes de France, torn. 2, p. 51. 
Paris, 1833. 

t [So powerful were these illustrious merchants, that when some of their 
ships were captured by the Portuguese, they, single handed, blockaded the 
mouth of the Tagus, made large reprisals, and compelled the king of Por- 
tugal to make reparation for their losses. — Ed.] 

i Charlevoix, Histoire de la Nouvelle France, vol. 1, p. 4. Paris, 1744- 



202 FRENCH VOYAGES AFTER CORTEREAL. 

Camart, a native of Rouen, the " Golfo Quadrado " (Gulf 
of St. Lawrence).* He is also said to have made a chart of 
the gulf, and of the mouth of the great river of Canada. 
This is not altogether improbable ; for the mariners of Hon- 
fleur and Dieppe were early accustomed to make charts and 
maps. " The very oldest charts, preserved in the Depot de 
la Marine at Paris, were traced by them ; " f though in this 
great mass of interesting documents and maps, the map of Jean 
Ddnys has not yet been discovered. On the charts of the 
first years of the sixteenth century we find no other trace of 
these French discoveries ; unless it may be that occasionally 
the entrance of the Gulf of St. Lawrence is laid down, and 
also, quite regularly, a fair representation of Cape Breton, 
which may be ascribed to the French. 

A man with the Portuguese or Spanish name, " Velasco," 
is said by French authors to have made a voyage to the St. 
Lawrence with some Frenchmen, at the same time that 
D^nys was in those regions. J This is not unlikely ; for the 
chronicles of the French seaports assert, that from time imme- 
morial, Spanish merchants were settled in these ports ; and 
that it was the custom of the adventurers of St. jNIalo and 
Dieppe, in long voyages, to have on board an expert Spanish 
or Portuguese pilot, or at least "factor" and "interpre- 
ter." § Velasco might have been such a pilot in the service 
of a Frenchman. Besides, we should be inclined to believe 
in reports of early French voyages to the St. Lawrence, even 
if they were not strictly proved by official and authentic docu- 



* The same Frencli captain, Jean D^nys, is also mentioned in the history 
of Brazil, as having made, in the year 1504, a voyage of discovery to that 
part of South America. 

t See Vitet, Histoire de Dieppe, p. 51. Paris, 1853. 

I Charlevoix, Histoire de la Nouvelle France, p. 4. Paris, 1744. 

§ See Vitet, 1, c- p. 63. 



FRENCH VOYAGES AFTER CORTEREAL. 203 

ments ; because this basin must have attracted not only fish- 
ermen, but navigators, who were looking for a passage through 
to tlio Pacific Ocean. It M'ould be inexplicable if this basin 
had really been as much neglected by the fishermen, as it 
appears to have been by the map-makers in nearly all the 
charts before Cartier, 1534. For this latter neglect we may, 
however, account by the loss of the original charts and au- 
thentic documents, which we have so much reason to lament. 

The Italian historian, Ramusio, to whom we owe nearly all 
the few notices we have of the early undertakings of the 
Normans and Bretons, mentions still another navigator of 
Dieppe, whom he calls " Thomaso Aubert." According to 
him, this Aubert went out as commander of a ship, " La 
Pensde," belonging to Jean Ango, the merchant and ship- 
owner of Dieppe above-mentioned ; who was the father of 
the still more famous Ango, Viscount of Dieppe. 

AVhat parts of the north-east Aubert visited and explored, 
Ramusio does not state. But his voyage was remarkable for 
bringing to France the first aborigines from the country after- 
wards called Canada.* Some of these Canadian Indians were 
portrayed in Dieppe, and appear amongst other figures, in an 
old piece of masonry or bas-relief, still preserved in the church 
of St. James in Dieppe. f 

Ten years after Aubert, in 1518, or perhaps a few years 
later, a similar voyage to the same regions was undertaken by 
the " Sieur Baron de L^ry," an enterprising man, " who 
had directed his mind and couracre to high things," and who 
desired to establish a French settlement on the other side of 
the ocean. He embarked many men and cattle on board of 
one or two vessels, and commenced his voyage. But having 

* See Ramusio, 1. c. torn. 3, fol. 423, F. 

t See a description and copy of this bas-relief in Vitet, Histoire do 
Dieppe, p. 112 seq. 



204 FEENCH VOYAGES AFTER CORTEREAL. 

encountered storms and unfavorable weather, he was diverted 
from his enterprise, and put into Sable Island, where he 
landed the cattle, and returned to France.* 

We have no records by which to determine what names the 
French gave to the countries discovered or visited by them. 
That given by the patriotic Portuguese, "the country of 
Cortereal," would not be acceptable to them ; and it is prob- 
able, that they adopted the less exclusive English name, 
introduced by Cabot, " The neio isle,^^ or, " The new found 
land" which they translated " La terre neuve." Perhaps, 
also, the name, " Bacallaos," derived from the most impor- 
tant product of the region, came into use among them, and 
was translated by them, "Xa terre des molues ;" and because 
the Bretons from Brittany were, at first, the most prominent 
in this branch of trade, and were the principal explorers and 
visitors of the southern section of Cortereal's countiy, the 
name, '■''Terre des Bretons" (the land of the Bretons) came 
into general use among the French, as well as among other 
nations. On maps of the early part of the sixteenth century, 
we see this name extended over a large tract of country, 
including Nova Scotia and a large portion of New England. 

According to the great French captain whom Ramusio 
quotes, and who wrote his discourse on the early French 
navigators in 1537, it appears that at this time, of all these 
names, the most common among the French was "La Terre 
Neuve." He says, that " La Terre Neuve " extends north- 
ward to 60° N., and southward to 40° N. ; and adds, that 
many also called it, and particularly the southern section dis- 
covered by Verrazano, " La Terre Francaise " (the French 
country). Tiiis latter may have been an official name, 
whilst "La Terre Neuve" was probably the popular name 
among the fishermen and in the sea-ports. This French 

* See D'Avezac, iu Nouvelles Annales des Voyages, torn. 3, p. 83. 1864. 



FRENCH VOYAGES AFTER CORTEREAL. 205 

captain also mentions thus early the Indian name " No- 
rumbega ; " to which he gives about .the same extent of 
country as to " La Terre Francaise," consequently including 
under this term the State of Maine."* 

The enterprise of the fishermen and merchants of Dieppe, 
Honfleur, St. Malo, Nantes, La Rochelle, etc., commencing 
about 1504, was the introduction of a long series of undertak- 
ings of great political and social importance. The Bretons 
and Normans of France went over from the banks to the con- 
tinent, from fishing to planting. They carried the race, the 
language, the religion, the customs, and also the traditions and 
songs of Western France to North-eastern America, where, 
for a long time, they outstripped the English, the Portu- 
guese, and the Spaniards, and became for many years more 
influential than all their rivals. 

As we shall show hereafter, they exerted a very important 
influence on the discovery and settlement ^of the State of 
Maine ; which, as adjoining to the French settlements, was 
for a long time the battle-ground for the conflicting claims of 
the English and French. 

I may point again to the remarkable circumstance already 
alluded to, that the French Normans may be said to have 
followed on the same track, or oceanic high-road, on which 
their ancestors, the Scandinavian Northmen, had entered ; 
and that they advanced their settlements, like them, from 
Helluland in the north, along the coast of Markland, until 
they had reached Vinland. 

*Ramusio, torn. 3, fol. 423. Compare, also, the translation of this dis- 
course in Estancelin, Recherches des voyages des Normands, pp. 219, 223, 
224. Paris, 1832. 



206 ENGLISH VOYAGE OF 1517. 



5. An English Voyage to the North-west, satd to have 
beex undertaken under the command of sebas- 
TIAN Cabot and Sir Thomas Pert, in 1517. 

Richard Eden, the first Enghsh collector of travels and 
voyages, published in 1553 a translation of the " Universal 
Cosmographie," w^ritten in Latin bj the German, Sebastian 
Minister. 

In the dedication of this translation, address :d to the 
Duke of Northumberland, once Lord High Admiral under 
Henry VHI, Eden incidentally observes, that " King Henry 
VHI, in the eighth year of his reign, furnished and set forth 
certain shippes under the governaunce of Sebastian Cabot, 
and one Sir Thomas Pert ; but that the faint hart of this 
latter mentioned person was the cause, that that voyage toke 
none effect." 

This incidental remark of Eden is all the original evidence 
we have on this so-called expedition of Cabot in 1517, by 
which great discoveries are said to have been made under 
Henry VIII. 

No original author of the time of Henry VIII. has alluded 
to this enterprise. Stow, in his Chronicle of England, 
though he mentions the first expedition of the Cabots in 
1497, and other English maritime undertakings, has nothing 
about an enterprise in 1517. Neither does Lord Herbert, 
in his elaborate life and reign of Henry VIII, mention such 
an expedition. Nor does the well-informed Portuguese au- 
thor, Antonio Galvano, who wrote his history of the dis- 
coveries of the world in 1555, and who accurately enumerates 
all the Spanish, Portuguese, English, and French expedi- 
tions up to that year, make any mention whatever of a voyage 
of Cabot in 1517. 

Nevertheless, Hakluyt, Purchas, nay, nearly all the sub- 



ENGLISH VOYAGE OF 1817. 207 

sequent authors down to the modern biographer of Cabot, 
Mr. Biddle, give credence to the statement of Eden, and have 
constructed upon his short and incidental remark a grand 
maritime undertaking, which they allege to have been exe- 
cuted by Cabot, though they greatly differ with respect to the 
region supposed to be visited. 

Hakluyt connects the statement of Eden with an English 
voyage to the south, — the West India Islands and toward 
Brazil,* — mentioned by Herrera and Oviedo. 

Herrera, under the date of 1519, relates that an English 
vessel appeared suddenly off Porto Rico, where her com- 
mander communicated with the Spaniards, and spoke to them 
about the route and object of his voyage. f 

Oviedo, on the contrary, places this event off Porto Rico, 
in the year 1527. J 

Ramusio has given a translation of Oviedo, in which he 
erroneously puts the date of that event in 1517 instead of 
1527, as it is given in all the original Spanish editions of 
Oviedo. 

Hakluyt did not know of the statement of Herrera, and 
consulted only the translation of Ramusio, in which the date 
is erroneously given. Finding there 1517 mentioned as the 
year in which " the English ship Avas said to have appeared 
off Porto Rico," and findins at the same time the above 
report of Eden about an expedition furnished by Henry VIII, 
Hakluyt thought that both expeditions were the same ; and 
so he adopts and enters in his great work, "A voyage of Sir 
Thomas Pert and Sebastian Cabot, about the eighth year of 
King Henry VIII, to Brazil, St. Domingo, and San Juan de 
Porto Rico." 

* See Hakluyt, vol. 3, p. 591. Ed. London, 1800. 
t See Herrera, Dec. II, lib. 5, cap. 3. 
t Oviedo, Hist. General, lib. 19, cap. 13. 



208 ENGLISH VOYAGE OF 1517. 

That this construction was founded on erroneous premises 
has been clearly shown by Mr. Biddle in chapter 14th of his 
Memoir, entitled, " Hakluyt's error with regard to the voyage 
of 1517."* He proves there that Herrera, in his date of 
1519, and Ramusio, in the date of 1517, were mistaken ; and 
that the date of Oviedo of 1527 is the true one, and should 
be adopted ; and that, consequently, the appearance of an 
English vessel off Porto Rico in 1527 can have no connec- 
tion with an English expedition said to have sailed in 1517. 

Mr. Biddle proves further, that the report of the Spanish 
authors on the said English vessel, must be connected with 
a subsequent English expedition made in the year 1527, of 
which he speaks afterwards. 

In destroying the theory of such an expedition of Cabot 
to Porto Rico and Brazil in 1517, adopted by many au- 
thors after Hakluyt, Mr. Biddle builds up his own theory of 
the voyage of 1517 mentioned by Eden, which has been 
adopted by many distinguished authors after him, as Hum- 
boldt, Tytler, and Asher. He thinks it certain, that an expe- 
dition in the year 1517 was made from England, and also that 
it was commanded by Sir Thomas Pert and Sebastian Cabot. 
But he is convinced that it went to the north-west ; and he 
adopts the opinion, that it was in this expedition that Sebas- 
tian Cabot reached the latitude of 671° N., and explored 
Hudson's Bay, and not in the expedition of 1498. To render 
this theory plausible, he constructs, in a most ingenious and 
inventive manner, a chain of hypotheses, which appear to me 
to have but slender support. 

And first, it seems to me that Eden does not distinctly 
state that an expedition actually sailed from England. He 
says, that Henry VIH. "furnished and set forth certain 
shippes;" and then adds, "that this voyage took none effect,^^ 

* See Biddle, Memoir, p. 110. 



ENGLISH VOYAGE OF 1517. 209 

from tlio falnt-liearteclness of one of the oriixlnators of the 
voyage, Sir Thomas Pert. Mr. Biddle, thinking that the 
expedition sailed, gives to the words, " the voyage took 
none effect," the interpretation, tliat the object and aim of the 
voyage were not readied, because Sir Thomas Pert, in the 
decisive moment, showed a want of courage to go further with 
Cabot. But it appears to mc, that the words " the voyage 
took none effect," might also signify, that the whole expedition 
failed from the beginning, and that it did not sail at all. Sir 
Thomas Pert may have shown " a faint heart " in the outset. 
Being a Vice-admiral, he was perhaps a wealthy man, and 
may at the beginning have favored the enterprise with his 
influence and money ; but despaired at the eleventh hour of 
its success, and refused it his assistance. 

But if we suppose that the expedition actually sailed, and 
that it reached the coast of America, the next question is, 
whether it is likely that Sebastian Cabot was one of the 
commanders. The dedication of Eden to the translation 
of Sebastian Munster's Avork appears so to state. But we 
will for the moment put this statement aside, and proceed to 
show the difficulties which we have to encounter, in order to 
brincr Sebastian Cabot to Eno-land at the rio-ht time in the 
beginning of 1517. 

That Cabot, in the year 1515, was still in Spain, and that 
he was in a very comfortable position there, we learn from 
Herrera and Peter Martyr. The first tells us, that Ferdi- 
nand gave him, in the said year, the title and salary of captain 
and cosmographer.* And the second relates, that he (Peter 
Martyr) had been sitting with Cabot as a member in the 
Council of the Indies, that Cabot was his good friend, and 
that he saw him often at his house. And further he says, that 

* " Mando asentar salario — cle Capitan y Cosmografo a Sebastian Gaboto." 
Herrera, Dec. II, lib. 1, cap. 12. 

14 



210 ENGLISH VOYAGE OF 1517. 

Cabot intended to try for Spain, what we now call a north- 
west passage ; that Spanish vessels were fitting out for him : 
and that he probably would sail in the month of March, 1516, 
in the service of the king of Spain.* 

Mr. Biddle admits this, and calls the position of Cabot in 
Spain a "dignified and important station."! ^^ cannot, 
therefore, conceive why, occupying this distinguished position, 
he should have suddenly left Spain. No Spanish author tells 
us, that Cabot at this time, or shortly after, had left Spain. 
Peter Martyr, who so often speaks of him, gives no sup- 
port to this supposed voyage of Cabot. Nor does Herrera ; 
although in his great work he follows him in all his changes and 
enterprises, even furnishing the details of the correspondence 
which the king of Spain had with England, and especially 
with Lord Willoughby, in 1512, to induce Cabot to enter 
his service ; and relating all the advantaires and emoluments 
heaped upon him successively by the kings of Spain ; as, for 
example, in 1512, his invitation from England, his title of cap- 
tain, great salary, and residence at Seville ; in 1515, his title 
and salary of captain and cosmographer, and membership in 
the Council of the Indies, — favors conferred by Ferdinand ; in 
1516, the fitting out of ships for him ; in 1518, title, salary, 
and station of pilot major (chief of the hydrographic bu- 
reau), — granted by Charles V. 

As no Spanish author speaks of his leaving Spain in the 
year 1516 or 1517, so neither does any English author inform 
us of his arriving in England, and entering the service of 
Henry VIII. 

Mr. Biddle thinks that Cabot quietly remained in Spain 
until after the death of Ferdinand, which occurred on the 
23d of January, 1516 ; and suggests that on the death of the 

* Peter Martyr, De rebus Oceamcis, Dec. Ill, lib. 6. 
t Biddle, 1. c. p. 100. 



ENGLISH VOYAGE OF 1517. 211 

king, Cabot, being a foreigner and comparatively a stranger, 
may have been viewed with dishkc and jealousy by the Span- 
iards, and subjected to harsh treatment, which Ferdinand did 
not permit during his life. 

After the death of Ferdinand and before Charles, the new 
king, arrived, there was an interregnum, and much mis- 
government in Spain. It was certainly not a flourishing 
time for the " Spanish natives." On the contrary it is 
well known, that the native Spaniards were much oppressed 
during this period by the Belgians, and other foreign favorites 
of the new king, who resorted in great numbers to the king- 
dom. The native interest was not in the ascendant after 
Ferdinand's death. We hear at this time only the complaints 
of the native Spaniards, and of some of them leaving their 
country in disgust for the West Indies.* 
. But even if, during that interregnum, some foreigners may 
have left, Cabot would certainly have been one of the last. 
He has been described by every biographer, and also by his 
contemporaries, as a man of^ gentle and modest manners. He 
must have had many friends even among native Spaniards, 
and was useful to them by his knowledge and experience, and 
had no doubt a great and influential party in the Council of 
the Indies. None could expel him from this Council except 
for misdemeanor, of which Cabot was never accused, even 
by the bishop Fonseca; upon whom foreign authors have 
heaped reproaches without reason, and whom Mr. Biddle 
calls an " intriguer of infamous notoriety ; " f thus leading 
us to infer that he may have been the cause of Cabot's re- 
turn to England. 

Cabot's friend, Peter Martyr, was also a foreigner ; but we 
never find him complaining of " Spanish jealousy of foreign- 

* See Robertson's Charles V, for the year 1516. 
t Biddle, 1. c. p. 102. 



212. ENGLISH VOYAGE OP 1517. 

ers." On the contrary, at the very time when Cabot is sup- 
posed to have left Spain, in the autumn of 1516, Peter 
Martyr wrote a very submissive and respectful letter to 
Cliarles, in which he dedicated to him his first three decades.* 
He was, though a foreigner and of Italian extraction like 
Cabot, all the time quietly taking his seat in the Council of the 
Indies. 

Cabot, with whom Peter Martyr sympathized in so many 
respects, shared probably his sentiments toward the new 
prince ; and probably, like Peter Martyr, so far from looking 
forward with despair to the expected and often announced 
arrival of Charles in Spain, was full of hope for promotion 
from this young and enterprising sovereign. That he rightly 
cherished such hopes, was proved soon after the arrival of 
Charles in 1518, by the promotion of Cabot. It appears 
therefore very improbable, that he should have left the 
country just at the time when so many in Spain were looking 
to this rising sun. He might well expect that he should find 
employment under the new king; and in this he was not 
disappointed. 

Mr. Biddle suggests, that the particular occasion for Cabot's 
"feeling slighted" and leaving Spain, was the preferment of 
the cosmograplier, Andres de St. Martin, to the place of 
pilot major. Cliarles, in a letter dated Brussels the 18th 
of November, 1516, had commanded the bishop Fonseca, to 
" inquire into the capacity and fitness of the said Andres de 
St. Martin for the place of pilot major, which the said 
person had claimed." Mr. Biddle says that Cabot, feeling 
himself slighted by this proceeding, returned to England. 

It would have been a hasty action on his part, to leave his 
dignified station because his sovereign took the liberty to 

* See tills dedicatory letter iu Peter Martyr's " De rebus Oceauicis," at 
. the beginning. 



ENGLISH VOYAGE OF 1517. 213 

*■'• inquire'''' Avhether a certain other person was fit for the place 
of pilot major. It would appear less so, if we were sure 
that Cabot at that time had applied for the station, and also 
that it was really conferred on Andres de St. Martin, who was 
himself a foreigner, from France. But both these points are 
veiy uncertain. Herrera says, that Andres de St. INIartin, a 
few years after this, went out with Magellan as one of his 
pilots.* It is very improbable that a man, who held the 
office of pilot major in Spain, would leave that place and go 
out in a position so inferior. From the circumstance that 
Cabot really obtained the office of pilot major in 1518, it is 
probable, that the application of St. Martin in 1516 was 
rejected ; and that from the beginning, the place was kept 
open for Cabot. f 

Is it therefore probable, that Cabot should have " felt 
slighted" and left the country, Avhen he had the best hopes of 
obtaining the desired position ? 

But if he actually left Spain — and Mr. Biddle agrees in 
this opinion — he could not have departed until the king's 
letter, dated Brussels, the 18th Nov., 1516, which is sup- 
posed to have annoyed him so much, had become known 
in Spain. We must allow some weeks for the reception of 
the letter after its date ; and several more for the contents to 
have reached (^abot, before he relinquished his office. To 
those who know the tedious and protracted forms which delay 
the settlement of official accounts in Spain, this time will not 
seem unreasonable for closing his affiiirs and transferring him- 
self to England. We cannot, therefore, suppose that he 
could have arrived in England before the end of the year 
1516. 

* Herrera, Dec. II, lib. 4, cap. 9. 

t Humboldt, Kritische Untersucliungen, vol. 3, pp. 120, 121, where he 
enumerates all the pilot majors of Si)aiu until Cabot leaves the place open 
from 151G-1518. 



214 ENGLISH VOYAGE OF 1517. 

We can find no satisfactory reason why Cabot should have 
left a comfortable and dignified position in Spain, from which 
nobody intended to remove him, and in which he had a 
hopeful prospect of favor from the youthful sovereign, to go 
to England at that time. For we are expressly informed, that 
in 1512, " no account was made of him" in that country; 
and that the authorities had permitted him without regret, to 
enter the service of the king of Spain, considering it "a thing 
of little moment" to retain him.* 

After his voyages of 1497 and 1498, Cabot had " received 
little encouragement from Heniy VII ; and Henry VIII. 
dismissed him in 1512 to Spain, as being of "no account." 
We cannot therefore believe, in the absence of all authentic 
information, that this king had changed his mind, and had 
invited him, in 1516, to return to England. Cabot himself, 
in his famous conversation with a distinguished gentleman, 
intimates no such thing. He only says, that finding, after 
his first voyages under Henry VII, no furtlier patronage in 
England, he went over to Spain ; and then, without mention- 
ing any other invitation from England, or any voyage in 1517, 
he relates his further employments, and particularly his expe- 
dition to the River La Plata in 1526. f 

But notwithstanding this, Mr. Biddle makes Cabot return 
to England, where, as I have showed, it was impossible for 
him to arrive before the end of 1516. 

The expedition, of which he is said to have shared the com- 
mand, is stated by Eden to have been " set forth " by Henry 
VIII, in the eighth year of his i-eign ; Avhich, reckoning from 
the time of its beginning, on the 22d of April, 1509, would 
be from the 22d of April, 1516, to the 22d of April, 1517.$ 

* See the authorities for this in Biddle, 1. c. p. 100. 
t See llamusio, vol. 1, fol. 374. Venetia, 1613. 
X Lord Herbert, 1. c. p. 2. 



ENGLISH VOYAGE OF 1517. 115 

The expedition must, therefore, have been " set fortli," at 
the latest, in the month of March, or beginning of April, 
1517 ; and this leaves to Cabot only about tliree months for 
persuading Henry VIII. to a new undertaking, and for all 
the preparations necessary for such an expedition. This 
rapidity of action rendered indispensable by this brief term, 
and particularly the fact, that there was then no great choice 
of ships in Englfmd ready furnished for service, are strong 
circumstances against this voyage. 

Mr. Biddle,* speaking elsewhere of a subsequent expedition, 
and wislii)ig to prove that a letter written by Mr. Thorne 
to Henry VIII, at the beginning of 1527, could have had 
no influence in promoting an expedition, which left the 
Thames on the 20th of May of that year, says it is " absurd 
to suppose, that four or five months would have been a suffi- 
cient space of time for forwarding such a letter to the king ; 
for considering and adopting the suggestions of this letter ; 
for resolving on the course of the intended expedition ; for 
selecting tlie commanders and the vessels suitable for such an 
enterpi-ise ; and for completing all the other arrangements so 
as to admit of this early departure." And yet, in this case, 
he thinks four months and a half quite sufficient for a letter, 
written by the Emperor Charles V. in Brussels on the 18th 
of November, 1516, to be carried to Spain, and forwarded 
to the proper authorities there ; for Cabot to take it into con- 
sideration, and to go through all the preliminaries for leaving 
his important office ; for settling his accounts ; for his return- 
ing to England without invitation, and making all prepara- 
tions necessary for a long and expensive expedition to a 
remote, savage, and little known country, so as to admit of 
his departure in the month of March, or in the beginning of 
April. 

* Memoir, p. 200. 



216 ENGLISH VOYAGE OF 1517. 

Eden, the only autliority for this voyage, does not say to 
wliat region it was destined, nor at what part of the new 
workl, if any, it arrived. Neither Spanish nor Portuguese 
autliors mention the arrival of these ships on coasts known 
to them. Mr. Biddle thinks that the j must have gone out to 
the savage regions of the north-west. He strives to make 
this probable by refei'ring, amongst other things, to tlie well- 
known letter, written in 1527 by Master Robert Thorne, 
addressed to Henry VIII, to urge him to renew the search 
for a north-west passage. This letter alludes, in the most 
general terms, to the discovery of Newfoundland made " of 
late by his Grace's servants," and says, that " the king has 
taken in hand " the northern discovery, and has made proof 
of it, without finding the commodity thereby, which he had 
expected.* 

Mr. Biddle thinks, that these expressions cannot allude to 
any other voyage than that which, according to Eden, was 
" set forth under Cabot and Pert;" and that, consequently, 
this voyage must have gone to and reached the north-western 
countries. I admit that all this is possible, if this voyage took 
place at all. But Thorne might have used these expressions 
in the same manner if no such voyage had been under- 
taken, having in mind no other than the expeditions to New- 
foundland under Henry VII, though seemingly attributing 
them to the time of Henry VIII. The " king," Henry VIII, 
might be said to have taken northern discovery in hand, when 
the "king," Henry VII, commenced it. The Englishmen 
who discovered Newfoundland under Henry VII, were still 
living under Henry VIII, and were his servants and sub- 
jects ; and so without adopting a north-western voyage of 
1517, it is quite true, that England and her king had not 

*See this letter in Hakluyt, " Divei-s Voyages." Edition of Hakluyt 
Society, p. 27 seq. 



ENGLISH VOYAGE OF 1517. 217 

found, in tlio expeditions before made to the north-west, all 
the advantages expected. 

The evidences which Mr. Biddle adduces to prove that an 
expedition was undertaken and executed to the north-west 
in 1517, appear to me extremely Aveak. But they are much 
weaker in proving that Cabot was concerned in any such 
voyage. 

Mr. Biddle also asserts, — and this without having any au- 
thority or even the slightest probability for it, — that it was 
on this voyage of 1517, and not on the voyages of 1497 or 
1498, that Cabot reached the latitude of 67i° N. ; and he 
further says, that it was on this voyage of 1517 that Cabot 
entered into Hudson's Bay, "and gave English names to 
sundry places therein." 

The only thing which induces him to think so is the date, 
" the 11th of June," which Ramusio gives, as does also Sir 
Humphrey Gilbert, in a quotation from a map of Cabot,* as 
the time when Cabot reached the said latitude, and which 
does not agree, he says : 1. with the date of the 24th of 
June, on Avhich he is said, by the best authorities, to have 
reached the continent of America in 1497 ; nor 2. with the 
date of "the month of July," which, by Peter Martyr,! and 
Gomai'a | is said to have been the time of his great struggle 
with the ice in 67^° N. Mr. Biddle therefore argues, that 
since the date, 11th of June, does not agree either with 
the date of the voyage of 1497, or with that of 1498, there 
must have been another voyage made by Cabot, to which that 
date may belong ; and that must have been the voyage of 
1517. 

To this reasoning we may answer as follows : All the au- 

♦ See Hakluyt, Voyages, vol. 3, p. IG. London, 1(500. 

t See Peter Martyr, De orbe novo, p. 232. Parisiis, 1587. 

t See Gomara, Historia de las Indias, fol. 20. Saragossa, 1553. 



218 ENGLISH VOYAGE OF 1517. 

thorities referred to, Peter Martyr, Goinara, and Ramusio, 
differ only with respect to the month, and not the year 
or the voyage, in which the ice and the high latitude were 
reached. They all ascribe these events to Cabot's voyage 
made by command of Henry VII. in 1498, and have not the 
slightest allusion to a voyage made by command of Henry 
VIII. in 1517. 

And even their difference with respect to the month is 
perhaps only apparent. 

The words of Cabot's map, according to Gilbert, run thus : 
Cabot affirmed "that he sayled very fare westward, with a 
quarter north, on the north side of Terra de Labrador, the 
eleventh of June, until he came to the Septentrional latitude 
of 67^°," etc. From this it appears, that the date of the 
11th of June may as well be given to his sail along the 
coast of Labrador, as to his arrival there. He does not say 
that he came on the lltli of June to 67i° N. 

Sir Humphrey Gilbert, according to my interpretation, may 
as well be quoted as giving the time of Cabot's arrival in this 
high latitude to the month of July. 

In regard to Ramusio, he quotes, probably from memory, a 
letter which Cabot had written him many years before (" gia 
molti anni sono"). Writing from memory about an old 
letter, received many years before, he might easily err with 
respect to the exact date. 

Moreover, Peter Martyr, who often conversed with Cabot 
and had him at his house, may well be credited for his 
date of the month of July. And Gomara, who was a con- 
temporary of Cabot, and lived and wrote in the same country 
in which Cabot himself lived for a long time, is not an un- 
worthy witness for the month of July. 

The map of Cosa, made from Cabot's first charts, so far 
as the north-east coast of America is concerned, may be cited, 



ENGLISH VOYAGE OF 1517. 219 

if not for the date of July, at least for the voyage of 1498. 
Tliis map, made in 1500, shows this east coast as high as 
67i° N., and even beyond it. 

And last, but not least, the 11th of June appears, for still 
other reasons, to be a very questionable, if not an impossible 
date, for a voyage in the high latitude claimed for it. 

Mr. Biddle says, that it was on occasion of this voyage of 
1517, that Cabot arrived through Hudson's Strait at Hud- 
son's Bay, discovered open water, and sailed into it, giving 
English " names to sundry places therein." He relates fur- 
ther, on the authority of Ramusio, that Cabot was there 
"sanguine of success," and hopeful of going directly to 
Catayo, " if he had not been overruled by the timidity of his 
associates," and particularly by the faint heart, nay, " malig- 
nity" of the master of the other ship, — according to Mr. 
Biddle, Sir Thomas Pert, — who would go no further.* 

If Cabot had been in 67i° N., near the entrance of Hud- 
son's Bay, he would have been under the arctic circle, in the 
midst of the so-called " Frozen Strait," or " Fox Channel," 
near Southampton Island. Now I believe that it is without 
precedent in the whole history of maritime discovery, for a 
navigator to sail unobstructed, cheered by the greatest hope 
of success, and everywhere surrounded by open water, on 
the 11th of June, old style, in 672° N., in Fox Channel, 
north of Hudson's Strait. In these regions, — the coldest and 
most obstructed of all the arctic regions, — the 11th of June, 
even according to the old style, is only the end of winter ; 
and at that time navigation there is impossible. 

I will remind the reader of the state of things encoun- 
tered in these regions by some of the old navigators, at dates 
not far from those assigned to this voyage of Cabot : 

Hudson, in 1610, passed the entrance of Hudson's Strait 

* Biddle, 1. c. p. 117-119. 



220 ENGLISH VOYAGE OF 1517. 

after the beginning of July, and arrived at the entrance of 
Hudson's Bay in the beginning of August. 

Bjdot, in 1G15, could not reach those regions into which 
Mr. Biddle puts Cabot on the 11th of June, before" the 12th 
of July, O. S., and then he was still two degrees south of 
61i° N. 

Hawkbridge, In 1616, reached the same regions in the be- 
ginning of August. On the 10th of that month, O. S., he was 
at Seahorse Point at not quite 05° N., and could not go higher 
than this latitude. 

James, In 1631, Avas not free of ice before the 3d of July ; 
and then began to approach the opening of Hudson's Bay. 

Parry, in the year 1823, was beset by ice In the northern 
part of Fox Channel during the entire month of July, N. S.; 
and then In the midst of a broad and thick field of ice was 
floated down the entire length of Fox Channel. 

By comparing still other dates, if necessary, I could render 
it certain, that a visit to those localities " on the 11th of June " 
must be rejected as impossible, whatever Avrltten or printed 
authorities may affirm ; and that, consequently, the Avhole 
structure built upon that date by Mr. Biddle, must fall to the 
ground. I am convinced, that modern as well as ancient 
navigators would think It a strange thing, that poor Sir 
Thomas Pert should be reproached with "timidity," a "faint 
heart," nay, with a particular "malignity," because, on the 
11th of June, he did not like to sail beyond 67i° N., In Fox 
Channel, which, at that time, is a perfectly unbroken wilder- 
ness of Ice. 

Mr. Biddle, and the authorities quoted by him, and the 
authors wlio follow him, tell us that Cabot, after returning 
from his discovery of Hudson's Strait to England, found there 
no support for a renewed effort. The enterprise was consid- 
ered "afiiilure." The horrible "sweating-sickness" which 



ENGLISH VOYAGE OP 1517. 221 

raged in England from July to December, 1517, and " the 
attention which the king paid to the affairs of the conti- 
nent, left no time to think of the prosecution of a precarious 
enterprise."* They further say, that Cabot, " languishing in 
inactivity," went over again to Spain, cheered by the new and 
more auspicious aspect of affairs ; and that he was received 
there with open arms and made pilot major.f 

I think that these sugiiestions contain more than one im- 
probability and contradiction. 

That a discovery of Hudson's Strait and Hudson's Bay, if 
it had been made in 1517, should have been considered in 
England as " a failure," is so contrary to all probability, that 
it scarcely needs a reply. It is quite certain, that if the dis- 
covery had really been made, it would have been trumpeted 
through the country ; or at least have been communicated 
to the king's ear, as a most precious secret. Everybody 
would have said that the thing had been done, that the short 
route to Cathay had really been found, tliat only one effort 
more was wantino; to arrive on the "backside of the northern 
countries." Henry VIH. would certainly have found time 
to give attention to such a discovery, which, if true, might 
have made him a most powerful sovereign. And the " sweat- 
ing-sickness " which ended in December, 1517, about the 
time when Cabot must have returned, would cei'tainly not 
have hindered him from fitting out another expedition in the 
spring of 1518. 

To suppose that the expedition of 1517, with the dis- 
coveries ascribed to it, should have been considered as "a 
failure," is in plain contradiction to what is said in Ramusio 
of Cabot's own views, when he reached the above latitude ; of 
his cheerfulness and hope ; his being " sanguine of success ; " 

*Biddle, 1. c. p. 120. 
t Ibid. 



222 ENGLISH VOYAGE OP 1517. 

and Ills conviction that he " both could and would have gone 
to Cathay," if it had not been for the revolt of his crew, or, 
as Hakluyt and Biddle tliink, for the " faint-heartedness of 
Sir Thomas Pert." From these views of Cabot it might rea- 
sonably be inferred, that Henry VIII, a shrewd man, would 
have sent back the "sanguine" adventurer as soon as pos- 
sible to the same regions, to finish the business ; and would 
have kept at home his former "faint-hearted" companion, 
the often-mentioned Sir Thomas Pert. 

If Hudson's Strait and Bay had been seen free and open 
by Cnbot in 1517, Robert Thorne, in his letter to Henry 
VIII. in 1527, to encourao;e him in a north-western enter- 
prise, would certainly not have made use of such general and 
faint expressions regarding a " discovery of the Newfound- 
land," as we have cpioted above. He would, no doubt, have 
mentioned the names given by Cabot in Hudson's Strait ; 
his chart of the Strait ; and Avould have adopted a much 
more demonstrative and decisive tone. 

As to this supposed invitation from the Emperor Charles 
to Cabot, and this alleged correspondence about his recall to 
Spain in 1517, we have not the slightest indication of it in 
the old authors ; though they speak in detail about such a 
correspondence, in which Ferdinand invites him to Spain, in 
1512 ; while such negotiations would have been far more 
necessary now, when Cabot is supposed to have seen opened 
before him so great a thing as "the way to Cathay." 

What we know for certain is, that Cabot, after having been 
nominated pilot major in 1518, was occupied in Spain with 
the quiet duties of his station ; that is to say, examining 
pilots, signing their patents and instructions, revising and 
arrancrino; charts, and attending to the transactions regardino- 
the boundary between Spain and Portugal. We find no evi- 
dence whatever that he was anxious to return to that region. 



ENGLISH VOYAGE OF 1517. 223 

where lie is said to have " seen the way to Cathay openly 
spread out before him ; " or that the Emperor Charles invited 
or ordered him to make a new attempt in that direction ; as 
he certainly would have done, if, in 1517, Cabot had made 
the discovery ascribed to him by Mr. Biddle. When Cabot's 
personal friend, Gomez, is sent out in 1525, Cabot gives no 
advice that he should be sent to Hudson's Strait. And 
when he himself goes out again in 1526, we see him sail to 
the south of America, and not to Hudson's Strait in the 
north ; which, if he had seen it in 1517, he must have be- 
lieved to be at least as o-ood a route as Magellan's Strait. 

The events and proceedings here referred to are so con- 
trary to Avhat we should expect from Cabot, after his supposed 
discoveries in 1517, that it is quite evident that these discove- 
ries could not have been made. 

The results of these observations may be summed up in 
the following points : 

There is no satisfactory proof that Cabot really left Spain 
in the year 1516 or 1517. 

It seems to be inconceivable, that a dignified councillor of 
the Indies, having left his seat in Seville without any palpable 
reason, and having either actually shown to England, the 
rival of Spain, or at least attempted to show, the short route 
to Cathay, for which everybody was then searching, should 
have been rejected in England, and received back into Spain 
with open arms, with honor and reward. 

It appears to be much more probable from all we know, to 
suppose that Cabot, after 1512, remained quietly in Spain, 
and continued his fortunate career, from one high station to 
another, in the offices of that country. 

Against this opinion we have the single statement of Eden, 
incidentally made in the dedication of his boo'c, Avhere lie 
speaks of an English voyage " set forth " in the year 1517, 



224 ENGLISH VOYAGE OF 1517. 

*' under the governance of Sebastian Cabot." If Eden, a 
most worthy author, really -wrote thus, he certainly must have 
believed, that Cabot had been engaged in this expedition. 
No attempt that we know of has been made, by diplomatic or 
bibliographical researches, to render it doubtful, whether 
Eden indeed wrote what he is said to have written. 

It is proved by good evidence and admitted by all parties, 
that if any expedition was made in 1517, it cannot have 
been, as Hakluyt supposes, the expedition which the Span- 
iards saw off Porto Rico. 

It is just as much out of the question to suppose, that, if 
an expedition was made, it could, on the 11th of June, have 
reached the waters in the vicinity of Hudson's Bay in 672° 
N., according to the representations of Mr. Biddle. 

It would appear more probable, that, if an expedition sailed 
for the western regions in 1517, it must have reached some 
more southern part of the east coast. All the great expedi- 
tions for the west, made contemporaneously or subsequently, 
were directed to the coasts of the United States ; namely, the 
Spanish expeditions of Ayllon, in 1520-1526 ; the French 
expedition of Verrazano, 1524 ; of Gomez, 1525 ; and the 
English of 1527 ; of all which we shall treat in subsequent 
pages. 

I do not pretend to have found the true explanation of the 
expedition, supposed to have been made in the year 1517. 
But the difficulties and questions suggested above with regard 
to the explanation of Mr. Biddle and others, are, I think, 
worthy of consideration ; and so long as they are not solved, 
we must put down this undertaking as at least doubtful. 



[Note.— The very al)le arguments of Mr. Biddle and Dr. Kohl on oppo- 
site sides of the question, still leave us in doubt whether Cabot undertook 
a voyage to the North Anaerican coast in 1517, or not. It appears to us 



ENGLISH VOYAGE OF 1517. 225 

that the weight of argument inclines to the side of Dr. Kolil. It is strange 
that such contradictory statements shoukl exist of important transactions 
occurring within fifty years from the time of the writers who reported 
them. The same obscurity hangs over the domestic concerns of the prin- 
cipal nations, as over their foreign voyages; which indicates great careless- 
ness or indifference in the preservation of facts. We find a document of 
the time of l<:dward VI, in tlie State Paper Office at London, whicli shows, 
that even during Cahot's life, in 1.551, he was in danger of losing certain 
rights by the loss of evidence. It says: "Touching Sebastian Cabot's 
matter, concerning which the Venitian ambassador has also written, he 
has recommended the same to the Soignory, and in their presence deliv- 
ered to one of their Secretaries, Baptista Ramusio, wliom Cabot put in 
trust, such evidences as came to liis hands. The Seignory were well 
pleased that one of their subjects, by service and virtue, sliould deserve 
the council's good-will and favor; and although this matter is over fifty 
years old, and by the death of men, decaying of houses, and perishing of 
writings, as well as his own absence, it were hard to come to any assured 
knowledge thereof; they have commanded Tlarausio toensearch with dili- 
gence any way and knowledge possible, that may stand to the said Sebas- 
tian's profit, and obtaining of right." 

The various reports we have of stirring events which occurred in the 
brilliant contemporaneous reigns of Francis I, Charles V, and Henry VIII, 
cease to make us wonder that Sir Walter Raleigh should burn his MS. 
history, seeing the contradictions whicli occurred vinder his own observa- 
tion ; or that Sir Robert Walpole should have instructed his sons to " read 
anything but history, for that is sure to be false." — Ed.] 



15 



APPENDAGE TO CHAPTER VI. 

CHARTS OF IHE FIRST FRENCH DISCOVERIES IN "TERRE NEUVE." 



1. On Map, No. 11, op New Feance, composed by the Italian 

COSMOGKAPHER, JACOMO DI GASTALDI, IN 1550. 

TnE celebrated collector' of early voyages, Giovanni Battista Ea- 
musio, lias given in the third volume of his great work, besides a 
general map of the entire continent of North America (p. 455), some 
maps of particular parts of it; for example, of Brazil (p. 427) and of 
New Fi-ance (p. 424). Of the latter we give a copy in our map. No. 11. 

On the history of these maps the following remarks are made by 
Ramusio, in the discourse prefixed to his third volume, addressed to 
liis excellent and learned friend, Hieroniuio Fracastoro.* 

Fracastoro, he says, had urged him in a letter to compose four or 
■five tables (tavoli), depicting " in imitation of Ptolemy," all the coun- 
tries and coasts of the new world, so far as they had become known, 
and in the manner in which the Spanish pilots and captains had traced 
them on their charts. He adds, that Fracastoro had sent to him at the 
same time all the necessary materials, which he had received from the 
illustrious imperial historiographer, Gonzalo Oviedo; and that, be- 
ing willing to comply with so reasonable a request, he had directed 
Master Jacomo di Gastaldi, an excellent cosmographer,t to make first 
a reduced map of the Avhole of the new world, and then to divide it 
into four parts. Gastaldi did this with the utmost care and diligence; 
so that now all industrious readers may see and learn how for, by the 
help of his Excellency Fracastoro, these things had become known to 
the world. " Because they know in Spain and also in France," Ramu- 
sio goes on to say to his friend, " the great pleasure and interest 
which you take in this new part of the world, of which you your- 

* See this discourse in Ramusio, vol. 3, p. 2, seq. Venetia, 1C56. 

t Jaeomo di Gastaldi (also called Jacopo Gastaldo) was a native of Vilhifranca in 
Piedmont. He had made maps and observations for an edition of the work of Ptole- 
my published in the year 1548 by Andrea Mattioli in Venice. 




Fold-out 
Placeholder 



This fold-out is being digitized, and will be inserted at 

future date. 




Fold-out 
Placeholder 



This fold-out is being digitized, and will be inserted 

future date. 



1 



CHARTS OF THE FRENCH DISCOVERIES, 22T 

self repeatedly, with your own hands, have made designs; so all 
the literary men of those countries send every day to you some new 
discovery made there, and broufrht to them by pilots or captains com- 
ing from those parts. Amongst these, particularly, is the above-men- 
tioned illustrious Gonzalo Oviedo from the Island of Spagniola, who- 
every year presents you with some new-made chart. Tlic same is also- 
done by some excellent Frenchmen, who have sent you from Paris re- 
ports of New France, together with several draughts, which will be 
put in this volume in their place." 

Ramusio then says, that he had introduced these maps, such as they 
were, not because he thought them to be perfect and complete, but 
because he wished to satisfy the desire of Italian students, entertain- 
ing the hope that, in some time to come, they would be improved. 
He concludes his discourse with these words : " The benevolent readers 
may take the little which I have the great pleasure to present to them, 
and may be sure, that if something better had come to my hands, I 
should have felt a much greater pleasure in giving it to them. And this 
is all that I have to say about my newly constructed geographical 
maps." 

The discourse of Ramusio is dated, " Venice, 20th June, 1553," at the 
time when he probably had collected all the materials €or his third 

volume. As this would take him some time, we ma" ■^^-*- +i"" -'-'^- •'f 

,, ... «,, -.- ^~^^^>i xoiM, though they were not 

the composition oi til p«*> '^-- " -^ 

puijusneci uy Kamusio until 1556, the date of the first edition of his 
third volume. 

The general map of America, here given by Ramusio, is a very accu- 
rate production, the result of the study of Spanish original maps and 
reports of the time. It is one of the best, most complete, and correctly 
printed of the maps published near the middle of the sixteenth centu- 
ry. It has even the latest discoveries, made in 1542 by the expedition 
of Cabrillo to California, as liigh up as about 40° N". I have, however, 
not given a copy of this map, because it does not contain much that is 
connected with our subject. 

The map of New France, of which I give here a reduced fac-simile, 
concerns us more nearly. It represents Newfoundland, Labrador, 
Nova Scotia, a part of the St. Lawrence, and in the west a fragment of 
the coast of Maine. It has no indications of longitude and latitude, 
and no scale of miles. Ramusio gives this map, and also his other four 
special maps, as illustrative of a short description of the countries and 
coasts discovered by the French, to wliich he gives the title : " Dis- 
course of a great French sea-captain of Dieppe, on the navigations 
made to the West Indies, called New France, from the 40° to the 47'* 



228 CHARTS OF THE FRENCH DISCOVERIES. 

N." Ho does not mention the name of his " great French sea-captain ; " 
but it is for sevei-al reasons certain, that the famous Jean Parmentier 
of Dieppe, who in 1529 made a long voyage to Sumatra and other coun- 
tries, is meant ; and it is pretty certain, that the discourse was written 
by Pierre Crignon, Parmentier's comi^anion and eulogist.* We infer 
from the contents of the discourse, that it must have been written in 
1539, though not printed until 1556. The author, Crignon, enumerates all 
the old French sea-captains known to have gone out on discoveries to 
New France before Cartier; namely, Jean Denys, Thomas Aubert, and 
Giovanni de Verrazano. He says, that tliirty-five years ago the Bretons 
and Normans commenced their navigation to those parts ; tliat about 
thirty-three years ago, Jean Denys made his voyage ; and that fifteen 
years ago, Verrazano was on that coast. The Bretons and Normans 
commenced their voyages to New France, as is generally thought, in 
1504; Jean Denys sailed in 1506; Verrazano in 1524. Thus all these 
statements concur in fixing 1539 as tlie year in which the discourse 
was composed. 

A short time before, in 1534 and 1535, Jean Cartier had made two of 
his remarkable expeditions to New France. But no mention whatever 
is made of these voyages by our author. This extraordinary omission 
of these most important French discoveries in a discourse, in which all 
til- in^^^ r^. ^:,„^g^^j,g mentioned, is hard to account for. Was 

the discourse perhaps wribi.^_ . t . . j. j- .^ ^^ ^- ^ 
'■ ^ ■''"^♦^ant part of the world, which 
the news from France had not reached ? Or dul tne au uixv^^ . ^ 

his discourse before Cartier's voyage in 1534, and soon after Parmen- 
tier's expedition of 1529 ? and did he, in a later year, 1539, when ho 
wrote his discourse, alter the above-mentioned dates, forgetting then 
to inckide Cartier's discoveries ? 

However this may have been, the appended map of New France 
agrees very well with the contents of the discourse. It gives the re- 
gions there described, and in the manner in which they are described, 
and yet has no trace whatever of Cartier's discoveries. It appears de- 
cidedly to have been constructed upon materials and after originals 
which existed before the time of Cartier. Perhaps the chart of Ver- 
razano was in part used in its construction. But Verrazano saw all 
the coasts here depicted, only on a very rapid sail. He could not, for 
instance, have on his chart any trace of a great river in the interior of ■ 
Canada. It seems evident, that the author of our map must have used 
some delineations still older than those of Verrazano; perhaps a copy 

* Soe for tliis K. IT. Major's lutroduction to his work, " Early Voyages to Terra 
Australis," p. vi. 



CHARTS OF THE FRENCH DISCOVERIES. 229 

of the map of the French captain, Jean Denys, said to have been made 
in the year 1506; in the same manner as ho evidently used okl Portu- 
guese maps for the country of Labrador and the higher latitudes. The 
map, upon the whole, appears to give us that chartographical picture 
of New France, which, having been collected from several early sources, 
was current in France before Cartier; from which circumstance the 
map has great interest for our subject. It may serve as a substitute 
for the lost maps of Denys, and some other old French navigators. 

The map is all the more interesting, because the eminent cosmogra- 
pher Fracastoro, so often mentioned in the history of the discovery of 
America, had so much to do with it, and partly procured the materials 
for its construction. And, indeed, since Fracastoro emjiloyed himself 
in his old age in the country-seat near Verona, to which he had re- 
treated, in composing maps, and " used to lay down upon globes the 
new discoveries " as they came to his knowledge, and then liberally 
communicated all that he had collected to his protege Ramusio ; we 
may conclude that all the maps contained in Eamusio are, to a certain 
extent, the protluctions of Fracastoro;* though they were completed 
and prepared for publication by Gastaldi. 

I willnow endeavor to give an analysis of this map. 

In the north, the map shows a coast running for a long way east and 
west with the name " Terra de Labrador," and with the Portuguese 
arms. It is the same country which we have seen, on our former 
maps, with the same configuration ; and is, probably, our present Green- 
land. 

On the south of this country, separated from it by a broad strait 
(Davis' Strait), there lies a large group of great and small islands. The 
northernmost of these, named " Isola de demoni " (the island of 
demons), is separated from the rest by a long narrow strait, on which, 
at the eastern entrance, is written " golfo di castelli" (the gulf of the 
castles), — the old name usually given to the Strait of Belle Isle, which 
separates Newfoundland from our present Labrador. From this it is 
evident, that the large "island of demons" is intended to repre- 
sent a portion of our present Labrador; and the group of smaller isl- 
ands at the south, our Newfoundland. The name "Terra nuova" is 
given to one of the larger of these islands. The " island of demons " 
is unmistakably designated by the small devils flying about it. This 

* Fracastoro lived only a few weeks after the date of the above-mentioned dis- 
course, addressed to him by Ramusio on the 2l)th of June, 1553. He died on the 8tli of 
August, 155.3, at the age of seventy-one years. See Tiraboschi, Storia de la Literatura 
Italiana, tom. 7, pp. 1450, 1451. 



230 CHARTS OF THE FRENCH DISCOVERIES. 

name is very often found on old maps, applied to a small island at the 
entrance of Davis' Strait. 

Along the east coast of" Terra nuova," we find some names attached 
to it by the Portuguese navigators after the time of the Cortereals : 
" Monte de trigo," * " Bonne viste," " Baccalaos," " C. de speranzo," and 
far south-west, the famous " C. de ras " (Cape Race). 

The distance from Cape Race to the eastern entrance of the Strait of 
Belle Isle (Golfo de Castelli) is about six degrees of latitude, or about 
four hundred English miles in a direct line. This measure may supply 
the want in this map of a scale of miles and degrees. 

West of Newfoundland we find on our map the Gulf of St. Lawrence ; 
not broad and spacious enough at its mouth, but with a northern chan- 
nel far too long and large. This northern channel, running down from 
Davis' and Hudson's Straits, is however very remarkable. It is an in- 
dication of our Ungava Bay, into which a Portuguese explorer had 
probably looked, without discovering that it was closed at the south. 

Far to the west lies a large country, called " Parte incognite." From 
this region a large river i-uns in an eastern direction, IVhich luidoubt- 
edly represents the first notions which Bretons and Normans had 
gained respecting the great river of Canada. The river has two mouths, 
with a great island between them, perhaps the island of Anticosti. 
Sevei-al other rivers run into it. The whole of this river-system looks 
as if it had been drawn by an Indian on the sand for Denys, perhaps, 
or Aubert, or some other Frenchman, by whom it had been transferred 
to paper. 

From Newfoundland, the southern coast of the continent runs east 
nnd west. A small part of it in the east, with the name of Cape Bre- 
ton attached to its southern headland, is cut oft" from the rest by an 
arm of the sea, — our island of Cape Breton and Gut of Canso. The 
country extending west is called " Terra de Nurumbega," which, by 
the shore line, is about five hundred miles long, and ends in a rectan- 
gular cape, — doubtless Nova Scotia and Cape Sable. 

Nova Scotia is represented as having three large ports on its south 
coast ; one at the west, filled with many small islands, called " Port du 
Refuge" (the harbor of retreat); another named "Port Royal;" and 
the easternmost, " Flora." It is difficult to identify these names with 
modern harbors. The deepest and largest bays on this south coast 
are : the harbor of Halifax, Margaret's Bay, and Malone Bay ; and pos- 

* This name and its position at no great distance south of the " Golfo di Castelli " 
render it certain, that Kunstmann is wrong in cliarging the author of this map with a 
mistake in placing where he does the name " Golfo di Castelli." See Kunstmann, Die 
Entdeckung America's, p. 95. Compare our map of Homem, Ko. 21. 



CHARTS OF THE FRENCH DISCOVERIES. 231 

sibly these were meant, having been often visited by the fishermen and 
coasters of Brittany and Normandy. They may, perhaps, have been 
surveyed by Verrazano, and drawn on his charts. Here the name, " La 
Nuova Francia," is written in very large letters, indicating probably 
that this name is meant for the entire country. The name, " Terra de 
Nurumbega," is written in smaller letters, and appears to be attached 
only to the peninsula of Nova Scotia. Crignon, however, the author of 
the discourse whicli this map is intended to illustrate, gives to this 
name a far greater extent. He says : " Going beyond the cape of the 
Bretons, there is a country contiguous to this cape, the coast of which 
trends to the west a quarter south-west to the country of Florida, and 
runs along for a good five hundred leagues ; which coast was discov- 
ered fifteen years ago by Master Giovanni da Verrazano in the name 
of the king of France and of Madame la Regente ; and this country is 
called by many " La Francese," and even by the Portuguese them- 
selves ; and its end is toward Florida under 78° W., and 38° N. The 
inhabitants of this country are a very jjleasant, tractable, and peace- 
ful people. The country is abounding with all sorts of fruit. There 
grow oi-anges, almonds, wild grapes, and many other fruits of odorife- 
rous trees. The country is named by the inhabitants, '' Nurumbega ; " 
and between it and Brazil is a great gulf, in which are the islands of the 
West Indies, discovered by the Spaniards." * From this it would ap- 
pear that, at the time of the discourse, the entire east coast of the Uni- 
ted States, as far as Florida, was designated by the name of Nurumbe- 
ga. Afterwards, this name was restricted to New England ; and, at a 
later date, it was applied only to Maine, and still later to the region 
of tlie Penobscot. 

In the west of Nova Scotia there is a large and broad bay, probably 
the enti-ance to the Bay of Fundy. Further west we come to the 
coast of Maine, at once recognized by its characteristic feature, — a long 
chain of small islands; and then to another bay filled with islands. 
which I take to be our present Passamaquoddy Bay. It is here called 
" Angoulesme" (Angouleme), a name often used by the French discov- 
erers. Into this bay a river runs from the north (the St. Croix), which 
the author of this map supposes to be a branch of the great river of the 
north. So much for the coast-line. 

The interior of these countries is filled with objects and pictures 
partly imaginary and partly real ; with scenes of Indian life, and birds 
and other animals moving about among the trees. The great group of 
islands (Terra nuova) has but few trees, thus answering to the old 

* See this description of Nurumbega in Ramusio, vol. 3, fol. 423 F. 



232 CHARTS OF THE FEENCH DISCOVERIES. 

Scandinavian denomination of" Helluland " (land of the flat stones). 
On the contrary, the country of Nova Scotia (Terra de Nurumbega) 
and Maine is described as full of large trees and thick forests, thus an- 
swering to the '• Markland " (the land of the woods) of the old Scandi- 
navians. 

Among the animals on the continent we see, now and then, a large 
bear or a running rabbit ; and on the islands of ISTewfoundland various 
sorts of land- and water-fowl. 

These scenes from the life of the Micmacs of Nova Scotia, and of the 
Abnakis of Maine, are as pleasant, peaceful, and agreeable, as the 
Indians themselves are represented in the discourse of the great 
French captain.* Some of them are seen sitting by the shore, embra- 
cing each other, and admiring natm-e. Some appear to be sleeping; 
others conversing about their affairs under the roofs of their huts. 
Some are hunting the bear, or bearing a good-sized deer. Little chil- 
dren amuse themselves with shooting at birds. Some have hung up 
their fish between two trees, just as the traveler sometimes sees done 
at the present day in the west of Canada. Cheerful groups are walking 
leisurely or dancing on the turf. No scenes of violence or destruction 
anywhere appear ; no signs of cannibalism, depicted so dreadfully on 
many old maps of South America. In the foreground near Cape Kace 
a cross appears, surmounted by a crown, denoting possession taken by 
some one of the Christian powers of Europe. 

In short, everything is represented in accordance with the descrip- 
tions and views of the great French captain Parmentier, of the amiable 
Italian cosmographer Fracastoro, and also of the contemporary 
French, who are well known to have been friendly to the Indians of 
Canada, and disposed to keep on good terms with them. 

In the front of all these coasts and countries, winding like a snake, 
there runs a long and narrow sand-bank; denoting, as I think, the 
fishing-grounds of these regions, and the extent of the right to use 
them claimed by the French fishermen. 

In the centre of this bank, and south of Cape Breton and the Gut of 
Canso, there appears a square figure called " Isola delta rena " — better, 
della arena — (the sandy island). It is at the same distance from the 
coast, and in the same position as the present " Sable Island," long ago 
known to, and dreaded by, the Portuguese and French fishermen. 
The French (or Portuguese) had left here some swine for the assistance 
of their wrecked mariners, and these swine had so rapidly increased, 
that they swarmed through the whole island. 

* " Gli habitatori di qucsta terra sono gente trattabili, amichevoli epiacevoli." 



CHARTS OF THE FRENCH DISCOVERIES. 233 

The sea on this map, according to the description of Cabot, is full of 
sea-dogs, seals, sijouting wliales, cod, and otlier fish. Indians in their 
canoes, French and Portuguese in their kxrge ships and boats, are busy 
in catching them. In the south-eastern corner of the map a vessel ap- 
pears with the French lilies upon the sails, and the motto, " vado alia 
terra nuova" (I go to the new country). A similar French vessel is sail- 
ing, in the south-west section of tlie map, along the coast of Elaine. In 
the high north toward Labrador, there is another ship with the Portu- 
guese arms on her sails. 

The results of the examination of this highly interesting map, from 
the time prccctling Cartier, may be summed up thus : 

The coast of Maine was known to the great French captain Parmen- 
tier, and his reporter' Crignon; to Ramusio, Fracastoro, and their Ital- 
ian contemporaries ; and to the French, before Cartier. It was inclu- 
ded by them under the name of ''Terra de Nurumbega;" and was 
designated on their maps by the numerous islands, which constitute 
its distinguishing feature. Their fishing-grounds were claimed to 
be co-extensive with this coast, and they knew at least one of its 
harbors, spacious and filled with islands, Passamaquoddy Bay, to 
wliich they gave the name of " Angoulesme." They were also acquaint- 
ed with the entrance of the Bay of Fundy. The French ships camo 
often in sight of this coast. Beyond it toward the south-west, their 
fishermen did not often go, and knew but little. 

2. Ox Map, No. 12, of "Tekra Nueva" by Girolamo Ruscelli, 

1.561. 

Girolamo Ruscelli was a learned Italian, a " Philologus," from 
Viterbo, who lived partly in Rome, partly in Venice, the two great 
Italian centers for the study of cosmography. He was a contemporary 
of Jacomo di Gastaldi, and is, by some, called " Gastaldi's successor." 
He composed several linguistic and literary works, and published his 
well-known translation of Ptolemy, in 1561, at Venice, where the works 
of Gastaldi and Ramusio had for the most part been issued. Ruscelli 
died in that city in the year 1569. 

Ruscelli added to his Italian Ptolemy a work with the title " Espo- 
sitioni e introduttioni universali sopra tutta la geografia di Tolomeo" 
(Universal exjiositious and introductions to the entire Geography of 
Ptolemy), which contains remarks on mathematical geography, and the 
art of drawing maps and charts; also a series of mxps, delineating all 
the countries of the world. I give here Xo. XXXIl. of these maps, to 
which the author has given the title : " Tierra Nueva." He comprises 



234 CHARTS OF THE FRENCH DISCOVERIES. 

under this name the following countries : " Tierra del Labrador,'" 
■"Tierra del Bacalaos," and "Tierra de Nurumberg," and nearly the 
whole east coast of the United States, as far down as " La Florida," in 
about 40° ISr. 

He quotes no authorities for his map ; but it is evident that he used 
the same sources, as Gastaldi had used for his map of 1550, which, as I 
have shown, were very ancient, taken probably from the first sketches 
and charts brought home from " Terre Neuve " by the French adven- 
turers and fishermen. Perhaps also Ruscelli simply copied the work 
of his countryman and friend Gastaldi, leaving out now and then a 
name, or changing it, and adding here and there another. I furnish 
this map particularly to show, that the system of Gastaldi, as contained 
in Ramuaio, did not remain isolated, but found a contemporaneous 
response, and was copied by others. For the greater part of the con- 
tents of this map, I may refer to what I have said on the map of 
'Gastalda, No. 11. 

Labi'ador, Newfoundland, the great river of Canada, and the several 
harbors of Nova Scotia, are all drawn and named by Ruscelli in the 
same manner as by Gastaldi. 

The harbor of " Angouleme " (Passamarproddy Bay) has also the same 
form. At the south-west of it, Ruscelli places another pretty broad 
inlet, probably Penobscot Bay. The coast runs down with a bend 
to a prominent pointed cape, called " C. de S. Maria" (probably Cape 
Cod). I have before observed (p. 50), that the name " C. de S. Maria" 
had been given by the Spaniards to another cape on our coast, proba- 
bly Cape Ann ; but l)y the later map-makers the same name is some- 
times applied to Cape Cod. 

But I find on this map an entirely new name — " Larcadia" — which I 
liave not observed on any prior map. It is a name of Indian origin ; 
and was probably applied by French fishermen to the coast south-west 
of the Gulf of St. Lawrence. It is well known that this name, which 
in the beginning had no definite limits, was afterwards restricted by 
the French to Nova Scotia and its vicinity; including also a part of the 
present State of Maine. The name is variously written, " L'Arcadie," 
" L'Accadic," " la Cadie," and otherwise. On the map under discussion 
the name stands on the coast of Maine exactly in the midst between 
Passamaquoddy and Penobscot Bays. " The word is said to be derived 
from the Indian ' A(pioddiauki,' or ' Acjuoddie,' meaning the fish 
caUed a 'pollock.'"* 

* According to Mr. Parkman, Pioneers of France in tlie New World, p, 220. 
{According to another authority, Porter C. Bliss, a thorough student of the Indian 



CHARTS OF THE FKENCH DISCOVERIES. 235 

The aboriginal name given on tliis map to Nova Scotia and the neigh- 
borhood has this peculiarity, that instead of being written, as accord- 
ing to its Indian etymology it should be, " Norumbef/a " or " Norumbec," 
it is written " Nurumberr/ ; " showing that the Italian, as well as the 
German geographers, were reminded, by this Abnaki word, of the 
famous German town of " Nuremberg." In a similar maiHier the 
Indian name " Pernambuco " in South America has been sometimes 
Germanized to "Fernamburg" (Ferdinand's town). 

dialects, Acadie is a pure Micmac word, meaning "place." In Nova Scotia and 
Maine, it is used by the Indians in composition witli other words, as in Pestum-acadie, 
and in Etchemin, Pascal um-acadie, now Passamaquoddy, meaning the " place of the 
pollock." Gesner, in his "Ilcsources of Nova Scotia," pp.2, 31, gives the same mean- 
ing, illustrated in the words, Anglishou-akade, a place where Englishmen reside ; 
Sagaben-acade, ground-nut-place, now Shubenacadie. The origin of acadie is ahki, 
land or place, with da, a particle of admiration, added; translated by Rale, voila! 
there! implying abundance. — Ed. J 



, CHAPTER VII. 

FIRST SPANISH EXPEDITIONS ALONG THE EAST COAST OF 
FLORIDA FROM COLUMBUS TO AYLLON, 1402 to 1520. 



1. Introductory Remarks. 

The earliest discoveries of the North American continent 
by Europeans were made on the great north-eastern penin- 
suUi, Newfoundland, the most eastern projection of which is 
the point nearest to Europe ; and was reached on the old 
highway, by the intermediate stations, Faroe, Iceland, and 
Greenland. 

Then followed the discovery of the West India islands, 
toward which the navigation was comparatively easy by help 
of the trade-winds and the equatorial current. 

From both these northern and southern regions the more 
central parts of the coast were reached, and by degrees more 
thoroughly explored. 

The State of Maine, being a part of the north-eastern 
peninsula, was usually reached from that quarter ; and its 
early discovery is more intimately connected with that of 
Newfoundland, Nova Scotia, Canada, and other northern 
divisions, than with that of the West India islands and Flor- 
ida. Accordingly, the voyages of the Northmen, the Cabots, 
the Cortereals, and others, are much more connected with the 
discovery of Maine, than those of Ponce de Leon, Ayllon, 
De Soto, and their successors at the south, who scarcely 
reached our coast. 



SPANISH EXPEDITIONS IN FLORIDA, 1492—1520. 237 

Some of these southern expeditions in their progress, at last 
came very near to our northern coasts ; and, as I shall show, 
were at least intended for them. Bringing up the chain of 
discovery to as high a latitude as about 40° N., they serve 
to settle the question, how the coast of Maine was interlinked 
with the entire coast-line, and what position it occupied there. 
They also gave names on the south of Maine to certain bays, 
capes, and rivers, which are found on the Spanish charts. 
"VVe should not be able to understand these charts, and to 
show on them what belono-ed to us and what not, without 
taking some notice of the southern voyages and their results. 

A review of them, therefore, will be necessary, and a short 
review will suffice, to point out the most important steps in 
the progress of this branch of the history of discovery, which 
relates to the south-eastern coasts of North America. 

2. Columbus a^'d the East Coast of the Uxited States. 

Columbus, setting out on his first voyage in September, 

1492, from the island of Gomara, followed at first a strictly 

"^'— - «, oLont 28° N., near and along the northern 

limits of the northern trade wmds. 

If he had kept on this track to the end, he would have 
reached the east coast of the United States in 28^° N., 
about the latitude of Cape Canaveral in Florida. But during 
the latter half of his voyage, at the end of September, when 
about midway in the Atlantic Ocean, he began to change his 
course a little to the south, and so touched the new world 
in about the latitude of the southern end of our east coast. 

The Indians of the small Lucayan islands, with whom he 
first came in contact, had from ancient times a more intimate 
intercourse with their southern neighbors, — the inhabitants of 
the larger Antilles, — than with those at the north, — the 
inhabitants of Florida and the east coast of the United 
States. 



238 SPANISH EXPEDITIONS IN FLORIDA, 1492—1520. 

They were connected with the soiitli by a chain of islands 
and low banks, whose channels were navigable for canoes ; 
and were drawn in that direction by old traditions, that their 
paradise lay in those magnificent countries, the high moun- 
tains of which they could see from some parts of the Lucayan 
Archipelago. On the other hand, they were separated from 
the east coast of North America by a deep strait and the 
swift current of the Gulf-stream, which w^ould be likely to 
sweep away their canoes, and be to them an object of dread. 
Besides, the flat and less attractive country of Florida was 
nowhere in sight from their native islands. 

When therefore Columbus made inquiries of the poor 
islanders after larger and more beautiful countries, and took 
some of them on board as pilots, they conducted him to the 
south ; and in this manner turned him off from our east coast ; 
so that during the rest of his life, he continued to be occupied 
with the exploration of the southern regions, and gave little 
attention to the northern. 

On his first homeward voyage in January, 1493, he ap- 
proached the great section of the ocean, w^hir-l* 1^- ■ ' o -'-■' 
ons;h prvoc*- ^f Mo.,fcU ^•^*.xv.ii<ju, more nearly than at any other 
time. His course was in a north-east direction, somewhat 
parallel with our east coast, but at a distance from it, for 
nearly four hundred leagues ; passing not far to the east of 
the Bermudas, and about a hundred and fifty leagues south 
of the southern end of the great Newfoundland Banks.* 

Though Columbus never saw this east coast, yet he was 
convinced that there was a great continental land lying in this 
direction, at the north-west of his islands. He however be- 
lieved until his death, as many did after him, that this great 
continent was the eastern coast of Asia, and that the islands 

* See this track laid down on the chart of Columbus' voyages by Na- 
varrete in his " Colleccion de los viages et descubrimieutos," torn. 1, p. 352. 



SPANISH EXPEDITIONS IN FLORIDA, 1492—1520. 239 

visited by him were situated not far eastward from that con- 
tinent. 

On his second voyage to the west he sailed along the so^uth 
shore of Cuba, June, 1494, in a west-north-west direction. 
Arriving in the vicinity of its western extremity, he turned 
back, declaring his conviction, that the country was not an 
island, but a part of the great Asiatic continent. 

As unhappily not one of the numerous charts which Co- 
lumbus constructed has been preserved, we cannot say what 
may have been his exact idea in regard to the distance, trend- 
ins, and confio-uration of that eastern continental coast. His 
first view may have been, that in these particulars it resembled 
the coast-line drawn on the globe of Martin Behaim, in 1492, 
running north-east of Zipangu (Japan), supposed by Colum- 
bus to be the same with his Isla Espauola (St. Domingo). 

It is probable, although it is nowhere directly stated, that 
Columbus became acquainted, at a later time, with the dis- 
coveries of the Cabots and Cortereals made nine and six years 
before his death. This is rendered indeed quite certain, so 
far at least as the discoveries of Cabot are concerned, from the 
fact, that these had been already depicted on the celebrated 
map of Juan de la Cosa, the pilot and companion of Co- 
lumbus. 

The east coast of North America is drawn by Cosa on this 
chart, in accordance, doubtless, with the views of Columbus ; 
that is, at a considerable distance from Ae West India 
islands, M'ith a trendino; from the south-west to the north-east. 
On one point, however, Cosa differed from Columbus, namely, 
in representing Cuba as an island, and not as a peninsula, as 
Columbus continued to regard it, probably during his life. 

Similar representations were made in various ways on maps 
made long after the death of Columbus. His last two voyages 
were occupied in explorations much further south, which have 
no special relation to our subject. 



240 SPANISH EXPEDITIONS IN ELOIilDA, 1492—1520. 



3. EXPEDITIOX OF POXCE DE LeOX FROM PoKTO RlCO TO 

THE East Coast of Florida ix 1513, 

For the reasons above stated, the more northern regions 
were for several years neglected by Colnmbiis and his follow- 
ers ; and even the northern side of Cuba, which, accordingly, 
was supposed by them to be continental with Asia, until it 
was circumnavigated by Sebastian de Ocampo, ia 1508, when 
its insular character became generally known. 

Soon after this voyage of Ocampo, the Spaniards began to 
searcli more eagerly after the regions north of Cuba. The 
Indians of Cuba and of the Lucayan islands related a tradi- 
tion, that there was, in that direction, a great country, which 
they named " Cautio," in wliich there was a wonderful foun- 
tain, having power to restore youth and strength to those 
who bathed in its waters. A similar story was told of an 
island, called " Bimini," said to lie in the north-western part 
of the Lucayan Arcliipelago. 

It is probable that Ocampo brought home from his circum- 
navigation of Cuba, the first accounts of these traditions, and 
spread them among his countrymen, the Spanish settlers. 
And probably soon after, private adventurers and explorers 
may have imdertaken voyages in search of this fountain of 
Bimini, and the country of Cautio. 

Some years later, Juan Ponce de Leon, the conqueror and 
governor of Poffo Rico, influenced by these glowing tradi- 
tions, determined to seek this fabled fountain to restore his 
shattered frame ; and on the 3d of March, 1513,* sailed 
with three vessels to the north-west, having as chief pilot, 

* Nearly all foriner authors have placed this voyage in the year 1512. 
But Peschel, in his " Geschichte des Zeitalters der Entdeckungeii," p. 521, 
has proved that this year is an im2Mssible date, and that instead of it the 
year 1513 muist be adoj)ted. 



SPANISH EXPEDITIONS IN FLORIDA, 1492—1520. 241 

Antonio cle Alaminos, a very intelligent and skillful man, 
who afterwards distinguished himself by several important 
discoveries. 

De Leon, sailing at first along the eastern coasts of the 
Lucayan Archipelago, arrived on the 14th, at " Guanahani," 
the first American island discovered by Columbus. No 
Spanish navigator, so far as we know, since the discovery of 
Columbus in ] 492, had reached this his north-western ne plus 
ultra. Ponce de Leon now passed it, crossed the track of 
Columbus, and advanced still further to the north-west. 

On the 27th of March, which was Easter-day, commonly 
called in Spain, " Pascua Florida" (Flowery Easter), he 
discovered land in about 29° N. He sailed along; the coast 
for two days in a north-westerly direction, looking for a har- 
bor, until on the second day of April, he came to anchor at a 
place in 38° 8' N., probably near the present St. Augustine. 
Here he went on shore, took possession of the country in the 
name of the king of Spain ; and, thinking it to be a large 
island, he called it " La Florida," as well because he had dis- 
covered it on the above-mentioned festival day, as also from 
its flowery aspect.* 

The next day, Friday, he still continued his course to the 
north-west ; but on Saturday, changing his mind, he returned 
along the coast in a southerly direction ; disappointed, per- 
haps, in the object of his search, and desirous of ascertaining 
what connection there might be between Florida and Cuba. 

He continued on his southern course until the 20th of 
April, baffled by the strong current of the Gulf-stream, arid 
making little progress. He occasionally landed and gave 
names to several places ; for instance, to a place, — discovered 
on the 8th of May, in latitude 28° 15' N., probably Cai)e 
Canaveral, as indicated on subsequent Spanish maps, — he 

* See Herrera, Dec. T, lib. 9, cap. 10. 
16 



242 SPANISH EXPEDITIONS IN FLORIDA, 1492—1520. 

gave the name " Cabo de Corrientes," so called from the 
strength of the currents which rendered it difficult for him to 
pass, though sailhig with favoring winds and all his sails set. 
In about 25° N., he saw the coast turning westward, and 
there descried a long chain of rocky reefs and islets of various 
forms, which appeared to his Spanish imagination like mar- 
tyrs lying upon their grates ; and which he therefore called 
"Los Martyres" (the Martyrs), our present Florida Keys. 

Having reached these keys, De Leon turned to the north, 
entered upon other waters quite new to the Spaniards, and 
came upon the western coast of his " island Florida," along 
which he sailed some distance to the north, perhaps as far as 
the present " Charlotte Bay." From this point he again 
turned .south, and on his home route came in sight of the 
" Tortugas " (the Tortoises) ; where, having Cuba on the one 
hand, and Florida on the other, he was able to determine the 
distance between those two countries. After cruising in the 
Lucayan Archipelago, he arrived at Porto Rico in the month 
of September or October.* 

After this expedition, De Leon went to Spain, where the 
king gave him the title of " Adelantado de la isla de Bimini y 
la Florida," together with the government of these newly dis- 
covered provinces, with a commission to establish a colony 
there. De Leon was accordingly the first European gov- 
ernor appointed for the North American continent. For the 
next few years, however, he was so occupied with expeditions 
against the troublesome inhabitants of the Caribbean islands, 
" that he could not profit by his commission." But in the 
year 1521, he began to arm and avail himself of his com- 
mission in Florida. With the remainder of his fortune he 
fitted out two vessels, and sailed again to that country ; at 
this time visiting only its western coast, and accordingly fur- 

* There are some doubts about this date. 



SPANISH EXPEDITIONS IN FLORIDA, 1492—1520. 243 

nisliino; notliiiiii of interest to our subject. On tliis liis last 
expedition he was mortally wounded in a battle with the 
Indians of Florida; and died in Cuba, leaving a son, the heir 
of his titles to the great country discovered by him in the 
north. 

The Spanish name " Florida," which De Leon gave to this 
new country, remains; while the Indian names, "Cautio" 
and " Bimini " were soon forgotten. The name of Florida 
was extended by degrees further north with the progress of 
Spanish discovery and power in that direction. New Eng- 
land, and even Labrador, were at last included under the 
name of Florida. Nearly to the end of the eighteenth cen- 
tury, the name of North America was little used by Spanish 
authors.* 

4. Voyage of Antonio de Alaminos from Vera Cruz 

TUROUGU THE BaHAMA ChANNEL TO SpAIN IX 1519. 

Before and after the expedition of De Leon in 1513, nu- 
merous private excursions were made to the coasts of Florida 
and the Lucavan islands, from St. Domino;o and Cuba. 
Among the adventurers was a certain Diego Miruelo, who 
had preceded De Leon, and was now found by him to his 
astonishment, making on his own account a second expedi- 
tion to Florida, in 1516. This Miruelo brought home speci- 
mens of gold, which increased the fame of this country among 
the Spaniards.! 

We are not told to what part of Florida Miruelo went ; 
but probably it was not to the east coast. The Gulf of 
Mexico at this time, and in subsequent years, attracted the 

♦Among these authors is the well-known historian, Barcia, in his great 
history' of Florida. 

t See Garcilasso de la Vega's work upon De Soto, lib. 1, chap. 2; and 
Barcia's " Ensayo Chronologico," p. 2. Madrid, 1723. 



244 SPANISH EXPEDITIONS IN FLORIDA, 1492—1520. 

attention of enterprising Spaniards more than any other 
region. The great naval expeditions of Cordova, 1517 ; 
Grijalva, 1518 ; and Cortes, 1519, were directed to that medi- 
terranean sea of North America. The east coast was neg- 
lected for nine years after Ponce de Leon's voyage in 1513. 
But from these gulf expeditions there proceeded a voyage, 
which exerted an important influence upon the exploration 
of this east coast. 

Cortes, — having obtained on his cruise along the coast 
of New Spain some favorable accounts from the interior, 
and buih the fortress of Vera Cruz, and wishing now to 
send reports of his successful progress to the king of Spain, 
by the shortest possible route, — despatched, in a fast-sailing 
vessel, his skillful pilot, Antonio de Alaminos. He, as has 
been said, had been the chief pilot of De Leon, in 1513 ; 
and had conducted, in this capacity, the subsequent expedi- 
tions of Cordova, Grijalva, and Cortes to the Gulf of Mexico, 
and had thereby acquired great knowledge and experience of 
those waters. 

Alaminos knew the east coast of Florida as high as 30° N., 
and had observed with De Leon the strong northern current 
along that coast. He did not know with certaintv what was 
the state of things beyond this point to the east, on the route 
to Spain. No one, probably, except perhaps Sebastian Cabot 
in 1498, had sailed in that direction, and he, probably, only as 
far south as 36° N., in about the latitude of Gibraltar. It 
could not, therefore, be known at that time, whether the 
islands which appeared on the map of Cosa so plentifully scat- 
tered over those waters as high up as 40° N.,* might not be 
barred with reefs and banks ; or whether the passage in that 
direction might not be blocked by some peninsula, projecting 
from the northern continent far to the south and the east. 



* See Cosa's Chart, our No. 5. 



EXPEDITION OF DE AYLLON, 1520. 245 

But Alaminos, liaving observed the strong currents in the 
Bahama Channel, did not tliink it possible that such oljstruc- 
tions could exist. " He thought," says Herrera, "tliat these 
currents would conduct him somewhere into deep and open 
water." Accordingly he made trial of a passage through 
the Bahama Channel, and floated down the Gulf-stream into 
the broad Atlantic Ocean ; thereby proving the existence of 
a navigable passage in this direction, from Cuba and the Gulf 
of Mexico to Spain. 

The exact latitudes of Alaminos' track are nowhere re- 
ported. We ai-e only told, that, in sailing through the 
Bahama Channel, "he put himself to the north" (fue meti- 
endo se al norte), and that in tliis direction he found the 
broad ocean (hallo el espacioso mar) ; and that in pursuing 
his voyage he touched the island of Terceira.* 

From this it is evident, that he sailed alono; a crreat section 
of the Gulf-stream, and may be considered as the real dis- 
coverer of this current, running along the entire east coast of 
North America, and exerting an important influence on its 
commercial, as well as geographical and political history. He 
probably passed near the Bermudas, though he is not known 
to have seen them. In this manner he completed the dis- 
covery of the section of the ocean lying between the tracks 
of Cabot, Columbus, and Ponce de Leon, which, until his 
voyage, had remained untraversed and unknown. 

5. The First Spanish Expedition of Lucas Yasquez de 
Atllon to Chicora (the Coast of Carolina), 1520. 

The Spanish slave-trading voyages to the Lucayan Archi- 
pelago, in the beginning of the sixteenth century, had depopu- 



* See Bernal Diaz, Historia Verdadera, cap. 54-56; and Heirera, Dec. II, 
lib. 5, cap. 14. 



246 EXPEDITION OF DE AYLLON, 1520. 

lilted one island after another. As the demand for laborers 
in the mines and plantations of Hayti and Cuba continued, 
the slave-traders sought other countries not yet visited, and 
at last extended their search to the coast of the "Northern 
Indies." 

In the year 1520, several wealthy planters of St. Domingo 
fitted out two vessels in the harbor of La Plata, and de- 
spatched them to the Lucayan islands, for the purpose of 
'" procuring hands." Among these owners or adventurers 
(armadores), were the Spanish civil officers Diego Caballero, 
Ortiz de Matiengo, and Lucas Vasquez de Ayllon ; the last 
a literary man, a graduate (licenciado) and judge (oidur). 

The judge Ayllon, apparently the most wealthy and active 
in the company, with the help of his associates, paid all the 
expenses of the expedition. The name of the commander we 
do not learn, only occasionally a Captain Jordan is mentioned 
as the commander of one of the ships. He may have been 
the commander of both ships, and the expedition may, there- 
fore, properly be called " Captain Jordan's voyage." * 

The chief pilot of the expedition was Diego Miruelo, the 
same who has already been mentioned as having made recon- 
noitering expeditions on his OAvn account to the north, in 
1513 and 1516, and who was therefore well acquainted with 
the navigation of the Lucayan islands and with parts of 
Florida. 

The two vessels sailed from St. Domingo some time in 
1520. They touched at several Lucayan islands ; but finding 
them depopulated, and determining "not to return with 
empty ships," they directed their course further north, to try 



*Tlie only Spanish author who makes Ayllon himself go with the expe- 
dition, is Barcia, 1723. The older authorities, Gomara, Oviedo, Herrera, 
do not mention him. 



EXPEDITION OF DE AYLLON, 1520. 247 

tlieir fortune on tlie coasts discovered by Ponce de Leon, 
whose track the}' followed.* 

In this direction they fell in with a coast " in 32° N.," 
according to Gomara and Herrera, or " in 33° N,," accord- 
ing to Oviedo. And going on shore, they called a cape in 
the neighborhood " Cabo de Santa Helena" (cape of St. 
Helena), because they had discovered it on the day of that 
saint, the 18th of August. A river, which was near, was 
called "Rio Jordan," after the above-mentioned Captain 
Jordan. The country, as they understood from the aborigi- 
nes, was called " Chicora." 

I will not examine here the doubtful points connected with 
these dates and names. This belongs to a special history of 
the coast of Carolina. I will only state, that we shall find 
several of these names on charts hereafter introduced, and 
shall use them as waymarks. 

Ayllon's men do not appear to have given much time to 
exploration. Their voyage was nothing but a slave-hunting 
expedition. They remained for that purpose in the harbor 
where they had come to anchor, went on shore, caught 
some of the natives, to whom they gave European trinkets, 
and dresses made in the Castilian fashion ; who were then 
dismissed among tlieir countrymen as decoys. 

Many poor Indians, upon this, came on board the ships in 
cheerful groups, to receive similar presents ; and when the 
decks were covered with them, the treacherous Spaniards un- 
furled their sails, and turned their prows toAvard the south. 
But this crime was unprofitable ; and was finally avenged on 
the cruel perpetrators. One of the returning ships foundered 
at sea, and the guilty and guiltless perished together, — the first 

* Herrera, 1. c, " navegarou por la noticia que se tenia de la navigacion 
de Juan Ponce de Leon." " Some will have it," says Herrera further 
" that tliey were only carried away to the north by a storm." 



248 EXPEDITION OF DE AYLLON, 1520. 

shipwreck, probably, on the coast of Carolina. The greater 
part of the Indians on board the other ship died from sorrow 
and grief,* sickness and hunger, refusing to eat what the 
Spaniards offered them. However, one young Indian at 
least remained alive, to whom the Spaniards gave the name, 
" Francisco Chicora." lie acquired the Spanish language, 
and afterwards related to Ayllon many wonderful things of 
the beauty and riches of Chicora. Ayllon, whose imagination 
was inflamed by these reports, and who was now desirous to 
try the conquest of this country, carried his Indian to Spain, f 
with the design of proposing to the government to undertake 
an expedition on a grander scale. 

But these transactions and the preparations for this new 
expedition occupied several years ; and meanwhile this east 
coast, in its northerly section, had been reached and explored 
by the Spanish expedition of Gomez in 1525, as well as by 
the French expedition of Verrazano in 1524, of which I shall 
treat in the following chapter. 

*" — de tristeza y pesaduiiiT)i-e." 

t Peter Martyr, 1. c. Dec. Ill, cap. 2, has a most interesting chapter on 
this Indian from Carolina. Once lieliad him and his master Ayllon at his 
table in Seville, and communicates to his I'oaders the conversation which 
he then held with them about " Chicora." Among other things, he men- 
tions, probably for the first time, the sweet potatoes ("Batatas") of that 
region. 



CHAPTER VIII. 

EXPEDITIONS TO THE EAST COAST OF NORTH AMERICA 
UNDER THE FRENCH, BY VERRAZANO— THE SPANIARDS, 
BY GOMEZ— AND THE ENGLISH, BY RUT. 



1. Expedition of Giovanni da Veerazano in 1524, 

No exploring expeditions had been undertaken to the new 
world officially by the French government prior to 1523. 
All had been left to private enterprise. But in that year, 
the first French voyage for " the discovery of the new coun- 
tries " Avas commenced, under the patronage of Francis I, 
the brilliant, enlightened, and powerful sovereign of France. 

Four sliips were fitted out, under the command of Gio- 
vanni da Verrazano,* a citizen of the same nationality, which 
had furnished commanders for the Spanish and English expe- 
ditions to the new world, — an Italian of Florence. He had 
previously navigated the eastern parts of the Mediterra- 
nean, — the same waters in which Columbus had gained his 
experience ; and having entered the service of the king of 
France, he had been employed at times in cruising against 
the Spaniards. 

The expedition of 1524 appears to have been partly des- 
tined as a hostile cruise against the Spaniards. But explora- 

* I write this name here as it is written in t\ie work of Ramusio, though 
Italians, Tiraboschi, for instance, write it Verrazani. To adapt the name 
to the English reader, we shall in the following pages call him Johyi Verra- 
zano. 



250 EXPEDITION OF VERRAZANO, 1524. 

tion and discovery, more particularly the search for a passage 
to Cathay, were the principal objects of the royal commission 
then received by Verrazano, as he himself says, in his letter 
to the king.* In this letter we regret that we have not a 
more full account of the instructions or orders given to him 
by Francis I.f 

From several circumstances soon to be mentioned, it ap- 
pears probable, that at first he sailed from France in the 
autumn of 1.323. The expedition seems to have met Avith 
unfavorable weather, and to have encountered great tem- 
pests on the northern coasts (nelle spiagge settentrionale). 
Two ships were separated from the fleet ; and what became 
of them we are not informed. With the two other ships, 
" La Dauphine " and " La Normande," in a damaged condi- 
tion, Verrazano entered a port of Brittany to repair. What 
"northern coasts " these were is not clear. Some think that 
this first attempt was designed for a long exploring expedi- 
tion, and that " the northern coasts " were some northern 
part of America already reached by Verrazano in 1523. Ver- 
razano says, in his letter to the king, that he had made a 



* Ramusio, vol. 3, p. 420 seq. Venetia, lofiS. Verrazano speaks of the 
four ships which were sent by the orders of the king; across the ocean, to 
discover new lands (li quattro legni che vostra Maesta mando i^er oceano 
adiscoprir nnove terre); and further says (in the aj^pendix to the copy of liis 
letter, lately discovered in the Magliabecchian library in Florence, edited 
by G. Cogswell, Esq., in the collections of the Historical Society of New 
York, second series, vol. 1, p. .52 (New York, 1841), that it was his inten- 
tion " to reach in this voyage Cathay on the extreme coast of Asia." 

t Herrera (Dec. Ill, lib. 6, cap. 9) says, that Francis I, the rival of 
Charles V, had a desire to emulate him also in resi'yect to western discov- 
ery. He relates, that Francis had nttered the expression, that " he did not 
think God had created those new countries for the Castilians alone." 
Herrera thinks, also, that the expedilion was sent out esi^ecially for the 
discovery of a north-west passage, and of a route to the Moluccas; "a sub- 
ject whicih at that time occui)ied tlie cosmographers and navigators of all 
sea-faring uatious." 



EXPEDITION OF VERRAZANO, 1524. 251 

report to him on this first unfortunate attempt at exploration ; 
but this report has unhappily not come down to us. 

After having repaired his vessels, Verrazano sailed again, 
well equipped for a cruise along the coasts of Spain.* 

He went as far south as the island of Madeira. From this 
place he resolved to proceed to the west, but with only one 
of his vessels, " La Dauphine." As to what became of " La 
Normande," we have no account. 

On board the " Dauphine " he had fifty, probably picked, 
men ; and she had provisions for an eight months' cruise, 
" arms and other warlike munitions and naval stores." 

On the 17th of January, 1524, he parted from the " Islas 
desiertas," a well-known little group of islands near Ma- 
deira, and sailed at first westward, running in twenty-five 
days five hundred leagues,! with a light and pleasant easterly 
breeze along the northern border of the trade winds, in about 
30° N. His track was consequently nearly like that of Co- 
lumbus on his first voyage. 

On the 14th of February, J he met " with as violent a hur- 
ricane as any ship ever encountered." But he Aveathered it, 
and pursued his voyage to the Avest, " with a little deviation 
to the north ; " when, after having sailed twenty-four days 
and four hundred leagues, he descried a new country which, 
as he supposed, had never before been seen either by modern 
or ancient navigators. The country was very low. 

From the above description it is evident, that Verrazano 
came in sight of the east coast of the United States about 

* Herrera (Dec. Ill, lib. 0, cap. 0) says, that he sailed/;-o?n Dieppe on the 
17tli of January, which probably is not correct. 

t Ramnsio, 1. c; Herrera, 1. c. ; and also Hakluyt, in his " Divers Voy- 
ages," edited by the Hakluyt Society, London, 1850. 

I So the Magliabecchian Manuscript (1. c. p. 5(5) lias it. Eamusio and 
the " Divers Voyages " have the 20th of February, which appears less 
probable. 



252 EXPEDITION OF VERRAZANO, 1524. 

the 10th of March, 1524. He places his land-fell in 34° N.,* 
which is the latitude of Cape Fear, a prominent peninsula 
projecting, with its islands and banks, far into the ocean, and 
was probably the first land seen by him. 

He first sought a harbor for water and to repair his ship, and 
for this purpose sailed to the south along the coast "for about 
fifty leagues"! from the point of his land-fall. But he could 
find no port in this direction. 

Seeing the coast trendincj still further south in the same 
manner, he reversed his course, and returned north ; but 
finding no suitable port, he came to anchor near the coast, J 
and sent some of his men on shore to look at the country and 
communicate Avith the inhabitants. 

This landing-place must have been somewhat north of his 
land-fall in 34° N., perhaps not far from Cape Lookout. A 
section of low coast, sixty to seventy leagues in length, 
stretches along there, in which Verrazano could find no port ; 
and this corresponds with the character of the coast between 
Capes Lookout and Romain. There are long uniform tracts 
of low country without any estuary or port whatever, which 
might well have discouraged a weather-beaten and port- 
seeking navigator. The few inlets or ports existing there, lie 
behind sandy promontories, and might be easily overlooked. 

South of Cape Romain are the harbor of Charleston, St. 
Helena Sound, the inlet of Port Royal, Savannah River, and 
other open channels on the coast of South Carolina and Geor- 
gia, as far down as the harbor of St. Augustine. The coast 
of Florida south of St. Auo;ustine is destitute of anv good 



* See the Appendix to his letter in the Magliabecchian Manuscript, 1. c. 
p. 52. 

t Tvventj'^ French marine leagues, probably meant here, make one de- 
gree of latitude. 

I Ramusio, 1. c. p. 420 A. 



EXPEDITION OF VERRAZANO, 1524. 253 

harbor. As it is quite certain that Verrazano did not sail as 
far south as St. Auffustine, it is evident that he could not 
have gone much south of Cape Romain. We may there- 
fore, with some degree of probability, put down this cape 
as the Sfliithsrn terminus of his voyage. This cape is only 
about thirty French marine leagues from Cape Fear, — his 
land-fall. But Verrazano may have meant " fifty leagues," 
coming and going. At all events, his " fifty leagues," if we 
reckon them strictly, bring him on the coast of Carolina, and 
still north of Port Royal and St. Helena Sound. I therefore 
do not agree with the American author, who thinks " that 
he sailed at least as far as the southern part of the State of 
Georgia." * The important discovery of that more southern 
coast, so rich in harbors, belongs to another, a Spaniard, — 
Lucas Vasquez de Ayllon. 

Those who hold that Verrazano's southern terminus was 
near the peninsula of Florida, have so thought, because he 
mentions the palm tree as among the productions of the coun- 
try, while this tree is not found north of Georgia." f But 
even should this be true, we need not lay much stress upon 
these "palm trees" of Verrazano. It is well known that the 
old navigators in these western countries very often saw what 
they wished to see. Verrazano says also, that " the country, 
being so near to the east (of Asia), would probably not be 
destitute of the medicinal and aromatic drugs of the Orient," 
and he thinks also that the country might contain gold, which 
he thought was " denoted by the color of the ground." So 
he may easily have thought, that he saw " palm trees " in 
some other trees resembling them. 

From these considerations I infer, that Verrasano saAv 

* Rev. S. Miller, D. D., in New York Historical Society's Collections, 
vol. 1, p. 2-4. New York, 1811. 
t Dr. Miller, 1. c. 



254 EXPEDITIOlSr of VEEEAZANO, 1524. 

little of the coast of South CaroHna, and nothing of that of 
Georgia, and tliat in tliese regions he can, at most, be called 
the discoverer only of the coast of North Carolina. Verrazano, 
who gives us the oldest description known of this country, 
thus represents it : " The first line of the coast is sandy ; has 
behind it small rivers and arms of the sea that enter at cer- 
tain creeks, washing the shore on both sides. Beyond this 
appears a country rising in height above the sandy shore, with 

many fair fields and plains, and full of mighty woods 

The shore is shoal and without harbors, but it is free from 
rocks, and deep, so that within four or five feet of the shore, 
there are twenty feet of deep water, the depth increasing in 
a uniform proportion ; and there is very good riding at sea." 

Verrazano wrote this account probably at the j^lace where 
he, for the first time, anchored and went on shore. It 
is a truthful description of the coast of Onslow Bay in North 
Carolina, north-east of Cape Fear. From this we may infer, 
that his anchorage was near New River Inlet, in the center of 
this bay. 

These considerations lead us to the conclusion, that the 
first land made by Verrazano was Cape Fear, in 34° N., 
which is in the very center of a harborless coast. And the 
correctness with which he gives this latitude tends further to 
convince us of the general accuracy of his observations of 
latitude, and especially of the accuracy of those latitudes 
which he afterwards mentions. 

From the center of Onslow Bay Verrazano sailed on 
toward the east and north. Like the Cabots, who were at 
the same point thirty years before him, he probably feared 
that, in going further south, he should encounter the Span- 
iards, who had already discovered the coast of Carolina in 
the expedition of Ayllon in 1520, and at this very time 
were preparing to send this same navigator from St. Do- 



EXPEDITION OF VERKAZANO, 1524. 255 

niingo, on a second expedition to the same regions, and with 
the same object of finding a north-west passage to Cathay. 

" The coast," as he says, " stretched at first to the east,* 
and then turned to tlie north." Before coming to this north- 
ern land, Verrazano sent again some of his men on shore, 
probably in Raleigh Bay, where happened tliat hospitable and 
kind treatment so often related, which the wild inhabitants 
gave to a French boy, whom the waves had thrown on their 
shores. 

Departing thence, we suppose he rounded Cape Hatteras, 
and at a distance of about fifty leagues, came to another shore, 
where he anchored and spent several days.f 

While ridino- at anchor "on the coast for want of harbo- 
roughs," he explored the country, and found it full of im- 
mense forests a few leagues from the coast. Here he had an 
interview with the Indians, and brought one of their boys on 
board his ship, and kept him there. 

This was the second principal landing-place of Verrazano. 
If we reckon fifty leagues from Cape Hatteras, it would fall 
somewhere upon the east coast of Delaware, in latitude 38° 
N., where, by some authors, $ it is thought to have been. But 
if, as appears to me most likely, Verrazano reckoned his dis- 
tance here, as he did in other cases, from his last anchoring, 
and not from Cape Hatteras, we must look for his second 
landing somewhere south of the entrance to Chesapeake Bay, 
and near the entrance to Albemarle Sound. And this better 
agrees with the " sail of one hundred leagues," which Verra- 
zano says he made from his second to his third landing-place 
in New York Bay. From the Peninsula of Delaware, in 

* Ramusio. 

t Magliabecchian report: "seqiiendo sempre il lito que tornava verso 
settentiione, pervennimo in spazio ili leglie 50 a una altra terra." 
X J. W. Jones, in note to p. 61 of the " Divers Voyages." 



256 EXPEDITION OF VERRAZAKO, 1524. 

38° N., to New York harbor, it could scarcely be called " a 
sail of one hundred leagues." In a direct line, it is only fifty 
leagues. 

Though Verrazano sailed from his second station " always 
in sight of the coast during the daytime, and always carefully 
comincr to anchor in the nio-ht," still the laro;e and beautiful 
entrance of Chesapeake Bay is not mentioned by him. His 
second landing-place could not have been near this entrance, 
because he says, that at this station he was "riding on the 
coast for want of harboroughs." All the country was sandy 
and low, and for the space of two hundred leagues which he 
ran, "he never saw a stone of any sort." These "two 
hundred leagues of sandy, stoneless shores," probably desig- 
nate the coast from his southern terminus, Cape Romain, 
to his third landing-place, New York harbor, which is about 
two hundred French marine leagues. 

After this sail of one hundred leagues from his second 
station, he found " a very pleasant place among some small, 
prominent hills, iii the midst of which ran down to the sea a 
great body of water (una grandissima fiumara),* which was 
so deep at its mouth, that any heavily laden vessel might 
pass into it. 

This is the first time that Verrazano mentions "hills" as 
having been seen by him. And there can be scarcely a 
doubt, that the Highlands of Neversink are here intended. 
They are the first hills of any importance found on the whole 
coast, from Florida north ; and the sight of them would natu- 
rally make a strong and agreeable impression on a navigator 
coming from that quarter. Near the capes of Virginia, at 
the entrance of Chesapeake Bay, some hills are observed ; 
but they have an elevation of not more than a hundred and 

* Ramusio. 



EXPEDITION OF VERRAZANO, 1524. 257 

thirty feet, while the Highlands of Neversink rise to an ele- 
vation of more than three hundred feet.* 

It is further to be observed, that Verrazano does not 
speak here exactly of a river (fiume). That name would 
hardly seem appropriate to designate that great mass of water 
which passes out between Sandy Hook and Long Island. 
Verrazano calls it a "fiumara,"f which, according to the 
dictionary of the Academia delta Crusca, is more than a river 
(piu che un fiume), and is defined as a "congeries aqua- 
rum." This is a very appropriate term for the broad outlet 
of New York Bay, and corroborates the supposition, that the 
mouth of this bay is here intended. And this supposition is 
further confirmed by Verrazano's description of the coast. 

So far as this point, the coast, he says, ran for a long 
distance from the south, but that afterwards "it trended for 
fifty leagues and more toward the east." This describes 
exactly the situation of the bay, in the north-west corner of 
the great triangular gulf of New York. 

He found at this third landing station an excellent berth, 
where he came to anchor "well-protected from the winds" 
(in luogo ben coperto da venti), J and from which he ascended 
4he river in .his boat into the interior. He found the shores 
very thickly settled, and as he passed up half a league further, 
he discovered a most beautiful lake (bellissimo lago), of 
three leagues in circumference. Here, more than thirty 
canoes came to him with a multitude of people (con infinite 
gente), who seemed very friendly, and showed him the 
best places for landing. 

While he was having this friendly communication with 

*See Blunt's "American Coast Pilot," pp. 307, 326, New York, 1857, 
where these highlands are depicted. 

t At least, in the edition of his letter contained in Raniusio. 
I Ramusio. 

17 



258 EXPEDITION OF VERRAZANO, 1524. 

them, a sudden squall of contrary wind arose (movendiosi 
dal mare un impeto contrario di vento), which compelled 
him to return speedily to his ship, and even to weigh anchor 
and sail onward toward the east, greatly regretting to leave 
this region, which had appeared to Jiim so commodious and 
delightful. , 

This description contains several accounts which make it 
still more clear, that the bay of New York was the scene of 
these occurrences. 

The multitude of people which came out to see him seems 
to prove, that he must have been at tlie mouth of some great 
river, like the Hudson. For the Indians, from the earliest 
times, have always crowded around such localities, which 
were favorable to trade and settlement, just as European 
planters did afterwards. That excellent berth of his, "pro- 
tected from the winds," could not have been outside of Sandy 
Hook ; for there he could not have found such protection. 
What is called the Outer Harbor of New York is not men- 
tioned. Verrazano's " bellissimo lago " of three leagues in 
circumference, can be nothing else than the " Inner Har- 
bor ; " though even for this, the " three leagues " mentioned 
are rather a short circuit. If we suppose that he came to an- 
clior in Gravesend Bay, his " boat sail of half a league," 
which brought him to that "lake," might be explained as a 
passage through the " Narrows," which is not much longer 
than half a league. Hence it seems to me, that Crravesend 
Bay is the most likely place of Verrazano'' s anchorage in these 
waters. Still it seems strange that he should feel obliged to 
leave an anchorage so well protected, and so commodious and 
delightful a place which he was anxious to explore, from a 
flaw of wind sweeping over the bay. 

From New York Bay Verrazano sailed eastward " along 
the southern shore of Long Island. He followed this direc- 



EXPEDITION OF VERRAZANO, 1524. 259 

tion for ahout fifty leagues, — the coast always in sight." At 
the end of the fifty leagues he discovered an island of a tri- 
angular shape, hilly, covered with trees, and full of people. 
He gave it the name of the mother of Francis I,* the prin- 
cess Louise of Savoy ; and must therefore have called it 
" L'Isle de la Princesse Louise," or somethino; like that. 
But by a singular mistake, subsequent geographers, supposing 
the mother of Francis to have been named Claudia (thft 
name of his first wife, daughter of Louis XII. of France), 
have called it the island " Claudia." 

This mistake was first made by Ortelius, who, in 1750, 
drew on his map of America a "Claudia Island;" which 
after him was reproduced on all subsequent maps and charts 
of America, Even Hakluyt repeated and sanctioned this 
mistake, by writing in a marginal note to his translation of 
Verrazano's report : " The mother of Francis I. was Clau- 
dia." f This Claudia, the first wife of Francis I, was by no 
means a prominent person. She is seldom mentioned in the 
history of France, and was already dead at the time of Verra- 
zano's voyage. Louisa, the mother of Francis, was, on the 
contrary, a very distinguished person, and much beloved by 
the king. During his absence in Italy, in 1524, she was ap- 
pointed to be Regent of F'rance. It is therefore probable, 
that her name, rather than that of a person so obscure as 
Claudia, would have been selected by Verrazano for this 
compliment. This island is distinguished as being the only 
place to which Verrazano gave a name, in his report of his 
voyage. 

Some authors suppose, that this island of " Claudia," or 
rather " Louisa," is our present little Block Island ; others 
think, more justly, that it must be Martha's Vineyard, which 

* " Batlezzamola in nome della Vostra clarissima genetrice." 

t Hakluyt's " Voyages and Navigations," vol. 3, p. 298. London, 1600. 



260 EXPEDITION OF VERRAZANO, 1524, 

agrees much better than Block Island with Verrazano's ac- 
count of the distance of his " Louisa " from New York, and 
of the appaarance of that island. Fifty French marine 
leagues (twenty to a degree) running east from New York 
liarbor, carry us beyond Block Island, and indeed a short dis- 
tance beyond Martha's Vineyard. 

The "triangular shape,"' ascribed by him to Louisa Isl- 
and, might perhaps be equally applicable to Block Island and 
to Martha's Vineyard ; but not the account he gives of its 
size and general appearance. 

The island of Rhodes, near Asia Minor, to which Verra- 
zano compares his newly-discovered island, is forty-four 
leagues, or about one hundred and thirty miles, in circumfer- 
ence. Being a Mediterranean navigator, he doubtless knew 
it well from his own observation. It had become famous by 
the bloody and destructive assavilts made upon it by Solyman, 
the Turkish emperor, only two years before, and would 
hence have naturally occurred to his thoughts, during his 
lonely sail along the barbarous shores of North America. He 
could hardly have thought of comparing that little fisherman's 
station, " Block Island,"' which is only four leagues in cir- 
cumference, with the magnificent island of Rhodes. It is 
certainly less difiicult to suppose, that he may have been led 
by some association of ideas to compare it with Martha's 
Vineyard, which, being sixty statute miles in circumference, 
comes somewhat nearer to the size of Rhodes. It presents a 
very agreeable and diversified aspect, and is covered with 
little ranges of hills interspersed with plains, and has always 
been well peopled. 

Several authors have found difficulty in adopting this 
opinion regarding Verrazano's " Louisa Island," for the 
reason, that INIartha's Vineyard lies far to the east of the 
entrance of Narraganset Bay, while Verrazano would seem. 



EXPEDITION OF VERRAZANO, 1524. 261 

from his account, not to have entered this bay until after he 
had passed beyond this ishind. Verrazano relates, that after 
having descried his " Louisa Island," he entered another 
most "beautiful port" fifteen leagues distant. These au- 
thors have supposed that this fifteen leagues' sail must have 
been, like the former coiirse, in an eastern direction ; and 
since, in this direction from Martha's Vineyard, no such 
"beautiful port" could be reached, they haA^e concluded 
that Louisa Island must be Block Island, which lies west of 
Narraganset Bay, and from which this beautiful port could 
be reached on an eastern course. They seem not to have 
considered, that the "fifteen leagues' sail" from "Louisa 
Island," could as Avell be in a western direction ; which, 
indeed, is quite clearly indicated by Verrazano's report. He 
says : " that he could not anchor and go on shore on Louisa 
Island, because the Avind became contrary" (per contrarieta 
del tempo). A contrary wind, in his situation, was, of course, 
a wind from the east. It Avas perhaps an eastern gale Avhich 
forced him to look out for a harbor. He was beaten back 
from Martha's Vineyard ; and so quite naturally was carried, 
by a north-western course, into Narraganset Bay.* 

That the "beautiful port" (bellissimo porto) which Ver- 
razano thus reached after a fifteen leaoues' sail toward the 
north-west fi'om Martha's Vineyard, Avas Narraganset Bay, 
and more especially Newport harbor, is evident from the de- 
scription he gives of this port, and from other circumstances. 

This port he represents as situated in the parallel of Rome, 
41° 40' N. (in grade 41 e duo terzi). The latitude of New- 
port is nearly the same, being 41° 30'. Such accurate obser- 
vation of latitude is seldom found at that time. From this 
correct statement of the latitude of NeAvport, and the other 

* Mr. J. W. Jones, in a note on p. 64 of his edition of " Divers Voyages," 
partially adopts this view, though not very decidedly. 



262 EXPEDITION OF VERRAZANO, 1524. 

of Cape Fear before mentioned, we have cause to regret that 
Verrazano should have gi\^en us no otlicr observations of this 
kind in his narrative. 

He says further, that the outlet of the port to the ocean 
looked toward the south, and that there the harbor was " half 
a league broad." This is exactly the width and direction of 
the passage from Newport harbor toward the sea. He also 
mentions several times a small island near the harbor where 
his ship was riding (una isoletta vicina alle nave) ; which cor- 
responds with Goat Island, lying'near Newport. 

He stayed there a fortnight, providing his vessels with 
necessaries, and carrying on a friendly intercourse and trade 
with the Indians. This is the longest stay which Verrazano 
made at any place on our coast. 

He made several excursions into the interior, and gives an 
accurate description of its appearance, its open and fertile 
fields, meadows, and groves. He sailed also into the north- 
ern parts of the bay, and ascertained that it became larger, 
and was twenty leagues in circumference ; he counted five 
islands in it, and says that the largest fleets might ride safely 
between them ; * all which corresponds to existing facts in 
regard to Newport, and confirms the supposition that this was 
the spot visited by him. 

Verrazano was the first European, after the Northmen, who 
came to this harbor ; and it is remarkable how perfectly he 
corroborates their description of the beauty of the country, 
and the richness of its vines and grapes, which he mentions 
several times. 



* Some writers (for instance Dr. Miller, in the Collections of the New 
York Historical Society, p. 24, seq., New York, 1811), have thought that it 
was not the Bay of Narraganset and Newport, but the Bay of New York, 
which was here meant. I think that it has been shown above, that this 
view cannot be correct. 



EXPEDITION OF VERRAZANO, 1524. 263 

He left this port on the 5th of May, wliich is the only date 
he gives us durino; his whole survev of our east coast. Allow- 
ing a fortnight for this stay in Newport, and a few days more 
for his sail from New York, we may fix the date of his 
arrival in New York Bay at the middle of April. 

From Narraganset Bay, Verrazano coasted a "hundred 
and fifty leagues " along a country " somewhat higher, with 
certain mountains." This country, no doubt, is New Eng- 
land. At first, for about fifty leagues, he found the coast 
running to the east, " trending afterwards to the north," in 
the vicinity of Cape Cod. Though he kept, as he says, 
always in sight of the shore, still his letter affords no indica- 
tion of any port or harbor made or discovered by him along 
the coast of New England ; but his description of his sail 
northward, after having rounded Cape Cod, points unmis- 
takably to this region. 

I here present in full Verrazano's report relating to this 
territory, because it is the first detailed description of the coast 
of the Gulf of Maine, which has been given by any Euro- 
pean traveler. I copy it from the translation of the letter in 
Ramusio, found in Hakluyt's Voyages, vol. 3, p. 295, London, 
1600. The Magliabecchian copy gives it nearly in the same 
words as Ramusio. 

Verrazano^s Description of the Coast of the Crulf of Maine. 

" Trending afterwards to the north (after Cape Cod), we 
found another land high, full of thicke woods, the trees there 
of firres, expresses and such like as are wont to grow in cold 
Countreys. The people differ much from the other, and 
looke how much the former seemed to be curteous and 
gentle, so much were these full of rudenesse and ill manners, 
and so barbarous, that by no signes that ever we could make, 
would we have any kind of traffike with them. They cloth 



264 EXPEDITION OF VERRAZANO, 1524. 

themselves with Beares skinnes and Luzernes and Scales and 
other beastes skinnes. Their food, as farre as we could per- 
ceive, reparing often to their dwellings, we suppose to be by 
hunting and fishing, and of certaine fruits, which are a kind of 
roots, which the earth yeeldeth of her own accord. They 
have no graine, neither saw we any kind of signe of tillage, 
neither is the land for the barrenesse thereof, apt to beare 
fruit or seed. If at any time we desired by exchange to have 
any of tlieir commodities, they used to come to the seashore 
upon certain craggy rocks, and we standing in our boats, they 
let down with a rope, wdiat it pleased them to give us, crying 
continually that we should not approache to the land, demand- 
ing immediately the exchange, taking nothing but knives, 
fishhookes, and tooles to cut withall, neither did they make 
any account of our courtesie. And when we had nothing left 
to exchange with them, when we departed from them, the 
people showed all signes of discourtesie and disdaine, as were 
possible for any creature to invent. We were in dispight of 
them two or three leagues within the land, being in number 
twenty-five armed men of us. And when we went on shore 
they shot at us Avith their bowos, making great outcries, and 
afterwards fled into the woods. 

" We found not in this land anything notable or of impor- 
tance, saving very great woods and certaine hills ; they may 
have some mineral matter in them, because we saw many of 
them have headstones of Copper hanging at their eares. We 
departed from thence, keeping our course north-east along the 
coast, which we found more pleasant champion and without 
woods, with high mountains ivithin the land. Continuing 
directly along the coast for the space of fifty leaguos, we dis- 
covered thirty-two Islands, lying all neere the land, being 
small and pleasant to the view, high, and having many turn- 
ings and windings betweene them, making many fair liarbo- 



EXPEDITION OF VEREAZANO, 1524. 265 

roughs and chanels as they do in the gulfe of Venice, in Scla- 
vonia and Dalmatia. We had no knowledge or acquaintance 
with the people : we suppose they are of the same manners . 
and nature as the others are. Sayling North-east for the space 
of one hundred and fiftie leagues, we approached the land, 
that in times past was discovered by the Britons, which is in 
fiftie degrees." 

Rounding Cape Cod with a fair and favorable southerly or 
south-easterly wind,* and keeping the distant country in sight, 
Verrazano, having crossed the Bay of Massachusetts, must 
h^ve touched the shore at some place in the inner corner of 
the Gulf of Maine, probably in the vicinity of Portsmouth, 
where he appears to have made some stay. Departing thence, 
he changed his course from a northern to a north-eastern direc- 
tion along ihe shore, and soon came in sight of ^'■high moun- 
tains within the land.^^ These " high mountains " were prob- 
ably the "White Mountains" of New Hampshire, which 
were often observed and mentioned by old navigators sailing 
along our coast. They cannot be seen from the sea near Ports- 
mouth ; but after this port has been passed, they soon become 
visible along the coast, from the neighborhood of Saco to the 
region of the Kennebec. This circumstance makes it nearly 
certain, that Verrazano touched our coast near Portsmouth, 
and had there his first landing-place, in his cruise along the 
coast of the Gulf of Maine. 

He was struck there by the more northern aspect of the 
country. He found " firres and other trees, wont to grow in 
cold countreys." He found the country not apt to bear fruit 

* After having left Narragauset Bay, Vei'razano says (Hakluyt 1. c), that 
for some time he did not land in any place " because the weather served 
his turn for sailing." Tliis expression appears to indicate a wind of the 
description given above. 



266 EXPEDITION OF VEREAZANO, 1524. 

or seed, nor anything of importance, saving great woods, for 
Avhich the State of Maine has always been famous. 

And as to the inhabitants, while those in the south had 
been courteous and gentle, these in the north were rude, ill- 
mannered, and unfriendly. 

In fact, all the inhabitants of this northern country were in 
a state of irritation and hostility against the white men ; from 
which I conclude, that the country had been previously 
visited by Europeans, whose treatment had disaffected the 
natives. For nearly everywhere in the new world, where 
Europeans first landed, their reception by the natives was 
kind, like that experienced by Columbus on his arrival in 
Guanahani ; while, on the contrary, where the two races 
had repeatedly come in contact, a hostile disposition was man- 
ifested, such as Verrazano met with on the coast of Maine. 

Newfoundland, Cape Breton, and Nova Scotia, in 1524, 
had often been visited by the French and Portuguese, from 
the beginning of the sixteenth century, either in catching fish, 
or driven by contrary winds ; and some of them may have 
been driven to the coast of Maine, not more than about one 
hundred leagues distant from their most Avestern fishing- 
banks. 

This is still more probable from another circumstance men- 
tioned by Verrazano ; that whilst the natives of the south did 
" not care at all for Steele or yron" instruments, those in the 
north were very eager to possess them, and accordingly must 
have already learned their use. " They would take nothing,' 
Verrazano says, " but knives, fish-hooks, and whatever would 
cut." 

European commerce and barter had, therefore, commenced 
before the time of Verrazano's expedition to this coast. 

Departing from his landing-place on the coast of the Gulf 
of Maine, Verrazano, as he sailed along the shore in a north- 



EXPEDITION OF VERRAZANO, 1524. 267 

east direction, found the country more pleasant. The coast 
of Maine is still found more diversified and attractive, than 
the more uniform shores of the south. And its interest is 
increased by the distant view of high mountains -within the 
land, which, no doubt, as has been said, were the White 
Mountain range. 

From Saco Bay the coast of Maine begins to be broken up 
into those innumerable headlands, tongues, peninsulas, and 
islands, which form one of its most characteristic features. 
Verrazano, as he sailed along, counted thirty-two islands, very 
pleasant to the view, and having many turnings and windings 
between them, making many fair harbors and channels. And 
thinkino; of his cruise in the Mediterranean, the theatre of his 
former exploits, compared them very appropriately to the 
coasts of Dalmatia and Sclavonia in the Adriatic, which have 
very similar indentations, and are equally full of islands. He 
does not appear, however, to have landed again ; so that it 
remains doubtful whether he ever trod the territory of Maine. 
His last landing-place, where, with twenty-five armed men, 
he went two or three leagues into the interior, having been 
" in the vicinity of Portsmouth," it is doubtful whether it 
was upon the soil of New Hampshire or Maine. 

The characteristic beauties of the coast of Maine must have 
made a strong impression upon the mind of Vei-razano. For 
while he speaks of them in high terms and describes them 
minutely, he has for Nova Scotia, Newfoundland, and the 
remainder of his voyage, only these few words : " Sailing 
north-east (from the coast of Maine) for the space of 150 
leagues, we approached to the lande that in times past was 
discovered by the Britons, which is in fiftie degrees. Having 
now spent all our provisions and victuals, and having discov- 
ered about seven hundred leagues and more of new Coun- 
treys, and being furnished with water and wood, we concluded 
to returne into France." 



268 EXPEDITION OF VEREAZANO, 1524. 

He entered the port of Dieppe early in July, 1524.* His 
whole exploring expedition, from Madeira and back, had ac- 
cordingly lasted but five and a half months, and may be called 
a most prosperous and rapid excursion. 

Though Verrazano says that he discovered a new country, 
" which had never been seen by any one, either in ancient 
or modern times," and though he never mentions either the 
name of America, which in his time had come into use, or the 
name of " Occidental Indies," by which the Spaniards at that 
time called America ; still from the description which he 
gives of the new country,! it is evident, that he was quite 
aware of having touched a part of the regions designated by 
these names. He says that this country, of which he had 
discovered a part, and of which the Spaniards and Portu- 
guese had discovered the rest, is so large, that it might well 
be called another world (un altro mondo), and that even at 
the beginning of his voyage he "expected to find some such 
an obstacle," though he did not doubt " that he should pene- 
trate by some passage to the Eastern Ocean." How far dis- 
tant he thought this " Eastern Ocean " to be, he does not 
say, but only that the breadth of his newly discovered coun- 
try is not ascertained. That he thought himself much nearer 
to the Eastern Ocean and to China, than he really was, is 
clear from several of his observations. He thought that the 
savages, whom he saw on our east coast, were, in some of 
their qualities, " like the people of the east parts of the world, 
and especially like them of the uttermost jjarts of China.'" 
He thought, also, that " these new countries were not alto- 
gether destitute of the drugs and spicery, pearls and gold," 

* His report, wliicli ho at oucc sent to tlie king, is dated "on board the 
ship Delphin, in the jiort of Dieppe in Normandy, the 8th of July, 1524." 

t In the additional notes to his report found in the Magliabecchiau 
library. See Cogswell's edition, 1. c. p. G5 seq. 



EXPEDITION OF VERRAZANO, 1524. 269 

supposed to belong to the eastern world. He hoped that 
certain information on these points would soon be obtained by 
new undertakings to the same coasts. 

Verrazano's voyage — with that of Gomez, soon to bo men- 
tioned — is to us tlie most interesting maritime undertaking 
made to our east coast during the first half of tlie sixteenth 
century ; principally, because it is the only one of this period 
upon which we have a full written report, composed by an 
eye-witness, himself the well-instructed commander of the ex- 
pedition. The account is, therefore, invaluable. Still the 
most precious part of what Verrazano wrote respecting his 
voyage, has not been preserved, namely, that little book (un 
libretto) which he says he sent to the king, having noted in 
it all his observations of longitude and latitude, of the cur- 
rents, ebb and flood of the sea, and other matters, which 
he hoped would be serviceable to navigators, and be pro- 
motive of science.* 

Ramusio informs us,f that Verrazano made another voyage 
to the shores of the new world, where he was killed in a bat- 
tle with the natives. Though we have no original document 
in which this is affirmed, still it is probable, for many reas- 
ons, that a second expedition was really made. J 

The first is the statement of Ramusio himself, a contempo- 
rary and countryman of Verrazano, and who lived among 
the very men with wdiom Verrazano would be in correspond- 
ence, and who would be likel}^ to know his fate. 

Further, the tenor of Verrazano's own report, which is 
very favorable to the country he had discovered, in respect 

* See Mr. Cogswell's edition of "Verrazano's letter, 1. c. p. 52. 

t " Discorso," etc., vol. 3, fol. 417 B. 

i Mr. G. "VV. Greene, in his "Life and Voyages of Verrazano " (in North 
American Review, 1837, p. 304), collects, in a very complete and able man- 
ner, all the reasons and circumstances which make a second voyage of 
Verrazano nearly certain. 



270 EXPEDITION OF VERRAZANO, 1524. 

to its nature, its climate and fertility, its general aspect, and 
even its aboriginal inhabitants, shows an inclination on the 
part of the author to go out again to these regions, and even 
to persuade his king to make a settlement there. " In a short 
time," he repeats once morfe at the end of his report,* "we 
shall have, I hope, more certain knowledge of these things, 
by the aid of your majestic." 

Ramusio does not pretend that Verrazano made his second 
voyage as commander, and in the service of the king of 
France. The affairs of France and of Francis I. fell into a 
very confused and desperate state soon after Verrazano's 
return, and after the battle of Pavia at the beginning of 1525 ; 
Verrazano may, therefore, have early discovered, that there 
was no chance for him of employment in France. For this and 
other reasons it is not unlikely, that, as some have thought, 
he may after a time have emigrated from France, proceeded 
to England, and entered the service of Henry VIII ; and that 
he may have been the " Italian pilot," who is said by Her- 
rera to have been killed by the Indians on a subsequent 
English expedition to the east coast of America, of which we 
shall soon speak. f 

But with regard to Verrazano's ultimate fate, the opinions 
of authors have been very widely different. Some have 
thought that, not receiving the promotion he had expected 
in France, he returned to Italy and died there ; others, that 
he was taken by the Spaniards and hJinged as a " corsario " 
(pirate). $ 

* See Cogswell, 1. c. p. 67. 

t This, to a certain degree, is made probable by Mr. Biddle in his Me- 
moir of Cabot, p. 278 seq. 

f This is said by Barcia, Ensayo Ghroiiol. de la Florida, p. 8. Madrid, 
1723. 



THE VOYAGE OF GOMEZ, 1525. 271 

2. Expedition of Estevan Gomez along the East Coast 
OF North America in 1525. 

From the time of Columbus, the pilots and cosmographers 
of Spain were continually occupied with the problem of a 
passage to India by a western roiite. The question Avas re- 
vived with renewed zeal on the return, in 1522, of the Vic- 
toria, Magellan's vessel, under command of Sebastian del 
Cano, from the great discovery at the south, that a passage 
had at last been found through the hitherto impassable bar- 
rier of the western continent. 

Another expedition toward Magellan's Strait was at once 
prepared. But the mariners, who had returned in the Vic- 
toria, had found the new route long and dangerous, and could 
not, therefore, highly recommend it. 

The hope again revived, that another strait might be dis- 
covered, by which America would be penetrated in a similar 
manner in the north, though the Cabots and the Cortereals 
had not succeeded in finding it. It was argued by some, that 
because there was a strait in the south, there ought also to be 
one in the north, under the conviction that, according to a 
certain law of harmony, nature must have disposed and shaped, 
in a corresponding manner, the countries verging toward the 
north and south poles. 

Among those who inclined to this belief, was Estevan Go- 
mez, an experienced Portuguese pilot, who since 1518 had 
been in the service of the king of Spain. In that year the 
emperor gave him the title of "piloto," at the same time that 
he gave to Sebastian Cabot the title of "piloto major." * 

Gomez had been several times with his Portuguese coun- 
trymen to the East Indies. He had also sailed with Magel- 
lan to the south of America in the subordinate capacity of 

* See Herrera, Dec. II, lib. 3, cap. 7. 



272 THE VOYAGE OF GOMEZ, 1525. 

pilot of the " San Antonio," one of Magellan's vessels, 
though he had much higher pretensions. In that capacity 
he had become, to some extent, an opponent and rival of 
Magellan, his commander; and at last had conspii'ed against 
him, and left him with the ship Antonio and her mutinous 
crew, and returned to Spain. On his arrival he reported, 
that the strait in the south, which Magellan thought he had 
discovered, was too dangerous to be used for any good pur- 
pose, that Magellan and all his men would probably perish, 
and that he himself had concluded to save his vessel and 
crew for the future service of his king. 

It was natural, therefore, that when Magellan's remaining 
vessel returned in 1522, Gomez should desire to offset this 
valuable discovery of his rival, by a more successful attempt 
in the north. 

Fernando Cortes, the conqueror of Mexico, had also, in 
1524, pronounced himself in favor of the existence of a north- 
ern passage to the Pacific. At this very time, Lucas Vas- 
ques D'Ayllon also entertained the same opinion. He had 
extended Spanish discoveries in 1520 to latitude 33° on our 
coast, including " Chicora," and had received a royal com- 
mission, signed June 12, 1523,* for the discovery of a pas- 
sage in the northern parts of Florida. 

It appears, accordingly, that in the years 1523 and 1524, 
there were in Spain not less than three competitors for the 
discovery of a north-west passage on our coast, — Cortes, Ayl- 
lon, and Gomez. But Cortes was hindered by several cir- 
cumstances from the execution of his plan, and gave it up. 
Ayllon consumed a long time in the outfit of his vessels, and 
in preparing for his expedition, and was not ready with his 

* See commission in Navarrete, " CoUeccion de los viages y discubrimi- 
entos," etc., tom. 3, p. 153 seq. 



THE VOYAGE OF GOMEZ, 1525. 2Y3 

armament until 152(3, and at last came to an unliappv end, 
ill the southern part of the east coast. 

It was, therefore, left to Gomez in 1524 to conduct an ex- 
pedition for the discovery of tliis passage. An order had 
been made by Charles V. in 1523, for fitting out a vessel 
of fifty tons, to wliich he would contribute 750 ducats; the 
rest of the expense to be borne by private persons. But 
this expedition was delayed in the hope of securing the 
services of Cortes; and also by a disagreement between 
Spain and Portugal, in regard to the division of their respect- 
ive claims in the new world.* For the adjustment of these, 
a council was held at Badajos, to which Gomez was sent in 
1524. Here he took his place, as one of the Spanish scientific 
commissioners, by the side of Sebastian Cabot, Juan Vespucci, 
Diego Ribero, and other celebrated cosmographers and pilots.f 
This honorable position shows the high estimation for knowl- 
edge and experience in which this " pilot " was held ; Avho was 
destined to be the official Spanish explorer of tiie northern 
parts of the east coast of America. 

This commission dissolved in 1524 without having come 
to a conclusion on the disputed points ; and Gomez Avas ao-ain 
at leisure to complete the preparations for his vovao-e. He 
sailed a few days after the 10th of Feb. in 1525, J from the 
port of Corunna in Gallicia, where the " Casa de contra- 
tacion " (court of Admiralty), formerly held in Seville, had 
been for some time established. 

* Herrera, Dec. Ill, lib. G, cap. 1. 

t Herrera, Dec. Ill, lib. 6, cap. 6. 

JNavarrete lias found in tbe Spani.sh arcbive-s tbe Royal decree (la Real 
cedula), by wbiuh Gomez, before he started, was nominated, Feb. 10, 1525, 
his majesty's pilot. And Navarretc adds, " he left the port at the same 
time." There is also a perfect agreement between this date and the state- 
ments of the historians on the time of his return; respecting which I shall 
speak hereafter; so that there seems to be no doubt, that his departure 
must have been on the days next following the 10th of February. 
18 



274 THE VOYAGE OF GOMEZ, 1525. 

We are unable to designate the track which Gomez fol- 
lowed on the ocean. Xo kind of ship-journal or report, 
written either by himself or any of his companions, has been 
preseryed. And the Spanish historians Oyiedo, Herrera, and 
Gomara, who may haye seen such a journal, are extremely 
brief in their accounts of this expedition ; although it had a 
particular interest for Spain, being the only official expedition 
sent out by that country to the northern parts of our eastern 
coast. 

.We only know, that Gomez had the intention of going to 
the north, though not to the Idghcr arctic regions, which the 
Cabots and the Cortereals had attempted. He thought he 
might find a passage to China " between the Bacallaos and 
Florida."* The coast of Florida had been discoyered and 
explored in 1512 and 1520, as high as 33° N. by Ponce de 
Leon and Ayllon ; by which it was known in Spain, says 
Herrera, that no passage existed there. Newfoundland, Lab- 
rador, and other coasts in that region, had been reconnoitered 
by Sebastian Cabot, the Cortereals, and others. But in the 
wide region between Florida and Cape Breton,. " no Castilian 
vessel had sailed as yet."f The expedition made the year be- 
fore to the same region by the French " corsario," Ver- 
razano, was perhaps not yet known in Spain. 

From this it appears, that Gomez, from the beginning, had 
this intermediate coast in view. " If China and the Moluc- 
cas could not be found that way," says Herrera, " many other 
goodly islands and provinces might be found, which had not 
been discovered as yet. It was also," he adds, " the opinion 
of Sebastian Cabot, that there might be discovered still many 
islands on the way to the Moluccas." % 

* So says Peter Martyr, Dec. VI, cap. 10, " iter ad Cataiam inter Baca- 
laos et Floridam se reperturum inquit." 
t Herrera, 1. c. Dec. Ill, lib. 8, cap. 8. 
X Herrera, Dec. Ill, lib. 4, cap. 20. 



THE VOYAGE OF GOMEZ, 152r). 275 

Sebastian Cabot was in communication with Gomez, liaving 
had, in 1524, his seat with him in the council of Badajoz ; 
and we may conclude that Cabot was consulted in regard to 
his voyage, and its direction ; and he may have suggested to 
Gomez to seek his object in this middle region, (.abot may 
•iiave thought that enough had been done, in the higher lati- 
tudes, where the ice had proved so great a barrier, and that a 
practicable passage might be found between the extreme 
points already explored, and which he had not been able to 
examine himself with sufficient attention. The expedition of 
Gomez may, therefore, be considered in a manner as a con- 
tinuation and completion of Cabot's voyage.* 

Near Newfoundland, Cabot had discovered broad openings 
Avhich had not been satisfactorily explored. On the south of 
Newfoundland a large open space had been depicted on the 
chart of Reinel, the countryman of Gomez, and by others after 
him. It is therefore probable, that Gomez, on leaving Co- 
runna, shaped his course to the north, in the direction of 
Newfoundland ; leaving the south, which had been already 
now fully explored, and where success was more doubtful, to 
be examined afterwards. In fact, some authors state expli- 
citly, and others leave us to infer, that his course, like that of 
Cabot, was along our coast from north to south. f But Gal- 
vano, in many respects a good authority, affirms that Gomez 
■went from Corunna first to the island of Cuba, and thence 
sailed by Florida as high north as Cape R,ace.:|: Thus Gal- 

* Some authors affirm, that the exi)edition of Gomez was proposed in op- 
position to Cabot, and by his rivals and enemies. I find no allusion to 
such an enmity in any Spanish author. It only appears that there were 
two parties in Spain, entertaining difterent views on the usefulness and 
success of the undertaking of Gomez. 

t Peter Martyr, I. c. hints this; also, Herrera, Dec. Ill, lib. 8, cap. 8; and 
Oviedo (Sommario, cap. 10, fol. 14), says that Gomez ran along the coast 
westward (discurriendo al occidente). 

t See Galvano, " Discoveries of the "World," ed. by Vice-admiral Be- 
thune, p. 1G7. London, 1862. 



276 THE VOYAGE OF GOMEZ, 1525. 

vano, who was a Portuguese, either from want of inforraation 
or from oversight, has reversed the whole track of Gomez. 
And in this important point he has been followed by some 
modern authors.* This construction we shall endeavor to 
prove to have been erroneous. 

The reports, given by the Spanish historians, of the dis- 
coveries of Gomez along our coast, are lamentably short. 
They determine neither his northern land-fall, nor the south- 
ern end of his cruise, nor the gulfs, ports, and inlets which 
he entered. We learn nothing from them about the obsta- 
cles he encountered, nor any incidents of his voyage. They 
say nothing, but that " Gomez went along quite a large space 
of country which had been navigated by no Spaniard before 
him,"f and that he went as far south as Florida. But 
" Florida" was a vague and broad term. Oviedo says, that 
he went as far south as about 40° or 41° N. But in respect to 
all the particulars of his voyage we are left to probabilities, 
and also to the official Spanish charts, which were executed 
soon after the time of Gomez, and which speak more pre- 
cisely than the Spanish authors. I shall introduce these charts 
and examine them in the appendage to this chapter. 

The result of this examination will be, that Gomez entered 
many ports and bays of the coast of New England, and gave 
names to them, by which they became known in geography 
for a long time. The territory, of which Maine is a part, 
was described on Spanish maps, as the " country of Gomez " 
(Tierra de Gomez). 

* A discoverer sailing .ilong our coast from south to nortli would be 
likely to make different discoveries, to enter different ports, to be arrested 
by different impediments, from one sailing from nortli to south. 

t Gomara says: " Anduvo buen pedaco de tierra." And Herrera about 
the same: " Corria por toda aquella costa hasta la Florida, gran trecho de 
tierra." 



THE VOYAGE OF GOMEZ, 1525. 277 

The voyage of Gomez terminated in about 40° or 41° N.,* 
without his having found any passage to the west, or any of 
the rich products whicli he was expected to bring home.f 

But determining to present something valuable to his 
owners, he caught as many Indians as he could take on board 
his small vessels, and carried them to Spain. J No account 
is given of the place or manner in which these poor captives 
were taken. But it is reasonable to suppose, that he woidd 
not have seized them until he had given up all hope of find- 
ing a passage to Cathay, and was about entering on his 
home voyage, and therefore, that they were taken from the 
southern termination of his cruise, in latitude about 40° N., 
or about New York bay. 

Herrera says, that from "Florida" he went to the island 
of Cuba, stayed some time in S. Jago, there refitted his vessel, 
refreshed his men, and was well taken care of by Andres de 
Duero, whom the emperor afterwards rewarded for this hospi- 
tality to his pilot. § Though Peter Martyr and Gomara 
mention nothing of this visit to Cuba, and make Gomez 
sail directly to Spain, still Herrera's statement is in the 
highest degree probable. Vessels coming from the north 
with exhausted crews, along the coast of Florida, have 
always considered the West Indies as a harbor of refuge. I 
could mention many expeditions which, before returning to 
Europe, have sought refuge in Cuba or Hayti for refreshment 
and supplies. And as the planters of Cuba were at this time 
much in need of slaves, it may have appeared to Gomez a 
good market for his cargo ; and he may have sold there the 



* Oviedo, a contemporary writer, says this quite distinctly in his Somma- 
rio, cap 10, fol. 14, which, for the first time, was published in the year 1526. 
t Gomara. 

t Peter Martyr says: " utriusque sexus hominibus navem farcivit." 
§ Herrera, Dec. Ill, lib. 8, cap. 8; and Navarrete, l.^c. p. 179. 



278 THE VOYAGE OF GOMEZ, 1525. 

greater part of his captives to indemnify his owners. Other 
writers, however, think that he carried them to Spain to 
gratify the curiosity of the emperor, as was then customary 
with explorers. 

The circumstances last mentioned tend to confirm the 
opinion, that Gomez did sail along the coast from Newfound- 
land to the south ; and not, as Galvano and some modern 
writers affirm, from south to north. 

The entire voyage of Gomez lasted ten months. On this 
point all the good authoi'ities agree. And as he sailed from 
Corunna a few days after the 10th of February, he must 
have arrived at that place on his return about the 10th of 
December ; and this date agrees with the view which Peter 
Martyr takes in his letters on the subject. Although in his 
work he announces, as in a newspaper, the various movements 
in the progress of discovery, still in none of his letters, written 
in the month of November, 1525,* does he say anything of 
the return of Gomez. He speaks of him in a subsequent 
letter, written probably at the beginning of 1526. f Oviedo 
says, that he arrived " in the month of November," perhaps 
at the end of it. The "ten months" of navigation should 
not, perhaps, be taken literally. :|: But they all concur in 
making the length of the voyage about ten months ; which 
is an ample period for his extensive and minute exploration. 

On his arrival in Corunna, the public was very anxious to 
know whether he had succeeded in his great object, and if 
he had really reached the Moluccas through the northern 
regions. A good old gentleman, whom they told that the 



* See this letter iu Peter Martyr, Dec. VIII, cap. 9. 

t Peter Martyr, Dec. VIII, cap. 10. 

t That is confirmed by the expression nsecl by Peter Martyr, who says 
that Gomez returned " within tlie tenth mouth" (intra mensem decimum a 
secessu). 



THE VOYAGE OF GOMEZ, 1525. 279 

pilot Gomez had returned and had brought back " esclavos " 
(slaves), understood them to say " clavos " (cloves or spices). 
Thinking that this would be good news for the emperor, who 
at this time held his court at Toledo, he took the swiftest 
horses, and carried the report that Gomez had reached the 
Moluccas, and had returned with a ship full of spices and 
other precious articles. But the meagre truth soon followed, 
that not " clavos " had been brought home, but only es- 
clavos, kidnapped against the royal decree by Gomez, who 
therefore deserved punishment, instead of reward. This 
mistake gave occasion at the time for a good deal of amuse- 
ment to the courtiers, and has been related for more than a 
hundred and fifty j^ears, by every historian and geographer 
who has written, even if only a few hues, on the discovery of 
Norumbega.* 

A more important consequence of the voyage of Gomez is, 
that it was the means of introducing another nation to our 
waters and coasts. Although the Spaniards, since the year 
1494, when the line of demarcation between Spain and Por- 
tugal was drawn, had considered all the regions west of this 
line as a part of their dominion, and had depicted them as 
such on their maps; still, no Spaniard, by any act of discovery 
or possession, had seized those coasts in the name of his king, 
until this voyage of Gomez in 1525. Gomez had now done 
this by actual survey, and by giving to the country a Span- 
ish name, " La tierra de Gomez," Avhich was now entered on 
their charts. 

The Spaniards, and more particularly the mariners and fish- 
ermen of Biscay, have pretended, like those of Brittany and 
Normandy, that they and their ancestors, from time immemo- 
rial, had sailed to Newfoundland ; and, even before Columbus, 

*See Peter Martyr, Oviedo, Gomara, Herrera, Wytfliet, De Bry, and in 
fact all historians and geographers down to Mr. Biddle. 



280 THE VOYAGE OF GOMEZ, 1525. 

liad established their fisheries there. But the Spanish his- 
torian Navarrete, in more modern times, does not sustain this 
pretension of his countrymen, and shows that it is " not sup- 
])orted nor proved by any contemporary and trustworthy 
document whatever;" but that it is proved, on the contrary, 
by many facts and testimonies, that the fishermen of Guy- 
puzcoa, S. Sebastian, and other Biscayan ports, did not appear 
in our waters, or commence their fisheries before 1526, the 
year after the return of Gomez.* Then and not before, says 
Navarrete, tlie Biscay people commenced their voyages to the 
north-western regions, going every year in the early spring, 
and returning in the latter part of autumn, — the same seasons 
of the year in which Gomez had sailed and returned. 

Though tlie proofs on which Navarrete founded his opin- 
ion, — namely, certain recollections, testimonies, and state- 
ments of old Biscay fishermen, made upon examination in a 
lawsuit in 1561, — do not appear to me to be quite conclusive,! 
still the views of a Spanisli historian like Navarrete, are of 
great force. At any rate, we may come to the conclusion, 
that if the fisheries of the Spanish Basques on the Banks of 
Newfoundland and in the vicinity, did not begin Avith the 
voyage of Gomez, they received from it a new impulse. 
Gomez, fitted out as he was in Corunna, very probably took 
his principal crew from among the hardy navigators of the 
north of Si)ain. Herrera, in speaking of the preparations for 
this voyage and its outfit, says, that the emperor had ordered 
" the province of Biscay and the four Biscay towns to give 
him thereunto every possible assistance." J Gomez, on his 
voyage, made known to the Biscayan sailors who accompa- 

* See Navarrt'te, Colleceion di; los viages y descubrimientos, etc., torn. 3, 
p. lim seq. Madrid, 1820. 

tTlie recollections of those old flsliermen, examined in the year 15G1, 
may, from want of memory, have gone no liigher up than 152G. 

t See Herrera, Dec. Ill, lib. 4, cap. 20. 



RUTS EXPEDITION, 1527. 281 

nied him, the coasts surrounding the Banks of Newfound- 
land, Newfoundland itself, the coasts of Nova Scotia and 
the Gulf of Maine, as fer at least as 41° or 40° N. He 
brought back also from these regions accurate maps, or sail- 
ing charts, and thus made the navigation to them more easy. 
Moreover, he proclaimed the news through all the north 
of Spain, that these regions, if not rich in spices, were 
at least "full of walrusses, cod-fish, salmon, and fish of all 
sorts." * Such ncAvs must have made a great impression on 
the fishermen of Biscay, and have given them a fresh impulse. 
From this time, for more than a century, they appeared in 
these waters every year with a large fleet, and took their 
place upon the banks as equals by the side of the Bretons, 
Normans, and Basques of France, until the middle of the 
seventeenth century, wdien rival nations dispossessed them of 
their privileges.! 

3. Expedition of two English Ships, the Maey of Guil- 

FOKD AND THE SaMSON, UNDEK THE COMMAND OF JOHN 

Rut, 1527. 
A wealthy and intelligent merchant of Bristol, Robert 
Thorne, " in the time of Henry VIII. of England, a notable 
member and ornament of his country," was very active in 
promoting voyages of discovery. In 1527 he was, for some 
time, settled in Seville in Spain, and from thence he wrote 
two letters or memoirs, one of Avhich he directed to Doctor 
Ley, "ambassador in Spain" of Henry .VIH, in which he 
gave information of the parts of the world discovered by the 
emperor and the king of Portugal ; and another, which he 
addressed to Henry VIII, exhorting him to prosecute the 

*This is mentioned in the inscription on Kibero's map of the year 1529. 
See this mai) in the appendage to this chapter, 
t Navarrete, 1. c. p. 180. 



282 RUT'S EXPEDITION, 1527. 

work which had been begun, of discovering unknown coun- 
tries. 

Hakluyt, who afterwards found and publislied these two in- 
teresting old documents,* says, that " this motion took present 
effect," and that the king sent out "two faire ships, well 
manned and victualledj and having in . them divers cunning 
men, to seeke strange regions." 

One of these vessels was called " The Mary of Guilford," 
and the other the " Samson." f They sailed from Plymouth 
on the 10th of June, 1527.$ 

Biddle § thinks it absurd to suppose, that a letter, written 
in the year 1527, could have been forwarded, its suggestions 
considered and adopted, the course resolved on, commanders 
selected, vessels suitable for such an enterprise prepared, and 
all the arrangements completed, so as to admit of that early 
departure on the 20th of May. Hence he concludes, that 
Robert Thorne is associated with this expedition by Hakluyt, 
without due consideration. He thinks, on the contrary, that 
Verrazano, soon after his return from his expedition of 
1524, perceiving that in the confused and exhausted state of 
France, he would have no chance of employment there, 
had proceeded to England, presented his chart, and probably 
a rci)ort of his former expedition to Henry VIII, and was 
therefore the true instio-ator of this undertaking of 1527. So 
far as Verrazano is concerned, all this appears very probable. 
Still, Ilakluyt's statement regarding Thorne may also be 

* See Hakluyt's " Divers Voyages," Ed. Joliu Winter Joues, pp. 27 
and 33. 

t Hakluyt (Voyages and Navigations, vol. 3, p. 1(56, London, 1810) says, 
that according to what he had heard, one of the vessels was named "The 
Dominus vobiscnm." Master Rut, the commander of the expedition, in a 
letter written by him, gives the two names above mentioned. 

JPurchas, Pilgrims, vol. 3, p. 809. Hakluyt says, on the 20th of May 
from the Thames. Both may be right. 

§ Memoir of Cabot, p. 280. 



EUT'S EXPEDITION, 1527. 283 

true to a certain extent. Henry may have lent liis ear to the 
words of Verrazano, and also to the letters of Thorne, if we 
suppose them to have been written and delivered at the be- 
ginning of 1527. Thome's letter may have contributed to 
confirm the king in his support of Verrazano's scheme. 
Often, in such cases, an impulse has been derived from differ- 
ent sources. 

The discovery of a north-west passage appears to have been 
the pi'incipal object of the expedition. The ships sailed 
toward Newfoundland, but went no further north than 53°, 
where they met with " many great islands of ice," and " a 
marvailous great storm," which separated the two vessels on 
the 1st of July. The ]\Iary of Guilford, under command of 
Master John Rut, "cast about to the southward," and "on 
the third day of August entered a good haven in Newfound- 
land, called St. John, where they found eleven sails of Nor- 
mans, one of Brittany, and two Portugal barks, all a fishing."* 

As we have no farther account of the Samson, it is proba- 
ble that she perished in the great storm above mentioned. 

The Mary of Guilford "returned by the coasts of New- 
foundland, Cape Breton, and Norumbega ; " often, as Hak- 
luyt informs us, " entering the ports of those regions, landing 
men, and examining into the condition of the country. They 
reached England in the beginning of October." f 

The name " Norumbega," or " Arambec," in Hakluyt's 
time, was applied to Maine, and sometimes to the whole of 
New England. We have, therefore, in this report, informa- 
tion of the first instance in which Englishmen are certainly 
known to have put their feet upon these shores. Though the 

* Piirclias, 1. c. • 

t Hakluyt, Voyages, Navigations, etc., vol. 3, p. 1G8. London, 1810. The 
old edition of Hakluyt (fol. 517, London, 1589) has " coasts of Norumbega." 
The later editions, including that of 1598-1600, fol. 3, p. 219, have " coasts of 
Arambec." The names are synonymous. 



284 EUT'S EXPEDITION, 1527. 

Cabots and otliers, before tliis time, had sailed in sight of this 
coast, yet we are not told distinctly, that they went on shore 
or reconnoitered the country. 

It is much to be reo;retted that we have so little informa- 
tion on this exploring expedition, which is so highly inter- 
esting to the object of our inquiry, especially as the expedition 
is said to have been accompanied by a learned man, " a 
Canon of St. Paul in London, a great mathematician." It 
may be presumed that his observations on these regions were 
brought to England ; and that by this means, or others, the 
English had now become somewhat acquainted with Norum- 
bega.* 

Mr. Biddle conjectures that Verrazano who, like Thorne, 
had recommended this expedition, was on board of the Mary 
of Guilford, and was killed by the natives of Norumbega on 
one of the excursions into the interior.! Verrazano, on his 
expedition in 1524, had observed the numerous islands and 
the broken and indented shores of these coasts. He had ex- 
pressed in his letter to Francis I. a great interest in these 
regions, and a wish to visit them again ; and it may be sup- 
posed, that he had persuaded the commander, Master Rut, 
to explore more carefully these coasts, where from their wide 
indentations he might hope to find a passage. It is therefore 
not unlikely, that Verrazano found his death on the shores of 
Norumbega : and if a monument to the memory of this fa- 
mous discoverer should ever be contemplated, this would be 
the region in which it should be erected. 

From certain statements of Spanish authors it is probable 
that the " Mary," after passing the coasts of Norumbega, 

*Hakluyt (1. c. p. 179) says, that he could not learn the name of "the 
mathematician." Mr. Biddle (p. 274) makes it probable, that it was the 
cler{:jyman Albert de Prato, mentioned by Purchas. 

t See Biddle's Memoir, p. 276 seq. 



RUT'S EXPEDITION, 1527. . 285 

sailed still further south along the east coast of the United 
States, and, arriving in the Spanish West Indies, cast anchor 
off the island of Porto Rico. 

The Spanish historian Oviedo, who at the time of this ex- 
pedition lived in the West Indies, reports, that in the year 
1527 an English vessel had appeared off Porto Rico. He 
gives no further particulars regarding this alarming appear- 
ance of Englishmen in these exclusively Spanish waters.* 
But another Spanish historian, Herrera, without giving an 
exact date, relates this event as follows : f A strange vessel of 
three masts and of the burden of two hundred and fifty tons 
had appeared off the island of S. Juan de Porto Rico. Gines 
Navarro, the master of a Spanish vessel then lying in the 
port, supposing her also to be Spanish, went out in a boat 
to board her. But on his way he was met by a pinnace from 
the strange vessel, with twenty-five armed men, and two 
pieces of artillery. They proved to be Englishmen, and told 
the Spaniard the following story : They had come from the 
north. In the beginning they had two vessels, fitted out for 
the purpose of searching for the country of the Great Chan.| 
The second vessel had been separated from them in a storm. 
They had passed through a very rough sea, where they had 
encountered great islands of ice, and afterwards had entered 
into waters which were boiling hot (the Gulf-stream ?). They 
had reconnoitered " the Bacallaos," where they had found 
fifty Spanish, French, and Portuguese fishing vessels. In 
one instance they had gone ashore to confer with the Indians, 
by whom their pilot, an Italian, "a native of Piedmont," was 
killed. They had" then coasted along as far south as the river 



* See Oviodo, Historia general de las Indias, lib. 19, cap. 13; and Bi<i- 
dle, Memoir of Cabot, ]ip. 114, 275. 
t Herrera, Dec. II, lib. 5, cap. 3. 
t . . . " para yr a buscar la tierra del Gran Can." 



286 HUT'S EXPEDITION, 1527. 

of Chieora (liasta el Rio de Chicora~), and from tills river 
tliey had come over to the Island of S. Jnan de Porto Rico. 

These Englishmen, as Herrera proceeds to relate, invited 
Captain Navarro to come on board their vessel, showing him 
their papers and Instructions from the king of England, and 
their great store of victuals, wine, flour, clothes, ammunition, 
artillery, ajid iron-work. The ship was manned by sixty 
men. They wished to know the way to Santo Domingo ; 
and, after some time, sailed thither. From this place, how- 
ever, not being received in a friendly manner by the Spanish 
commander of the castle, who fired upon them, they returned 
to Porto Rico, traded some time with the inhabitants of the 
port of St. German, and after that disappeared altogether. 

From this narrative it is evident, that the early events of 
the English expedition of which Herrera speaks, have a strik- 
ing resemblance to the early events of the expedition of 
the " Mary of (jruilford " and the " Samson," as related by 
Hakluyt and Master Rut. It is nearly certain, that both 
the Spanish and the English accounts refer to the same expe- 
dition : and both a^ree in ascrlbino; to it the same essential 
particulars, of the commission from the king, the purpose of 
the voyage, the number of vessels and the fortunes of each, 
the countries visited, and the obstructions and difficul- 
ties encountered. The islands of ice, and the French and 
Portuguese fishing vessels near Newfoundland, are mentioned 
in both reports.* Thus it appears, that Master Rut commu- 
nicated to the Spanish captain nearly the same things, and in 
nearly the same words, which he had just before written in 
his letter from Newfoundland to the king of England. 

The principal point on which they differ is the date. Her- 
rera, in his chronological history, speaks of his English vessel 
in a chapter in which he treats of events of the year 1519. 

* Herrera mentions also Spanish vessels, which Eut does not. 



RUT'S EXPEDITION, 1527. 287 

Tliat he lias misplaced this voyage under that year Is evident 
from the following facts : 

1. The perfect silence of all English authorities on a royal 
English expedition for a north-west passage in the year 1519. 

2. The improbability that all the alleged circumstances 
should agree in two different expeditions. 

3. The circumstance that Oviedo, a contemporary and an 
inliabitant of the West Indies, mentions the arrival of an En- 
glish vessel at Porto Rico in the year 1527, and does not 
speak of such an event in the year 1519. 

It is possible that Herrera may have made a chronological 
mistake, and that he was not sure about the date of this event. 
But it is more probable, that he did not intend to give the 
date of 1519 to the incident which he has here related. In 
a chapter under the head of 1519, he considers and reviews, 
in a general way, the condition of the Spanish colonies, and 
merely adverts, by way of example, to this appearance of an 
Enolish vessel, as one of several circumstances which had led 
to complaints and uneasiness on the part of Spain. In giving 
examples and instances, he thus refers to an event which oc- 
curred at a later period. 

xVnd last but not least, it must be observed, that the coun- 
try and river of " Chicora," which Herrero mentions under 
the head of the year 1519, did not become known to the 
Spaniards until after the subsequent expeditions of Ayllon in 
1520-1526.* In the year 1519, no Captain Navarro could 
speak with an English captain about " Chicora." 

From all this it is perfectly clear, that the strange vessel 
which the Spanish Captain Navarro saw off Porto Rico was 
the " Mary of Guilford " in 1527, and that the English com- 
mander, with Avhom he had this conversation, Avas ]\Iaster 
Rut. And hence it follows, that the oral communication 

* See amongst others, Herrera, Dec. X, lib. 9, cap. 12. 



288 EUT'S EXPEDITION, 1527. 

made by Master Rut to Captain Navarro reo-^rdlng certain 
events of his expedition subsequent to its departure from 
Newfoundland, namely, the killing of the Italian pilot (Verra- 
zano ?) and the sail of the Maiy of Guilford along the east 
coast of North America to " Chicora," must be regarded as 
a supplement to his written communication, made to Henry 
VIII. concerning the earlier events of his expedition. 

Unfortunately, Ave do not certainly know whether any 
chart of the track of the " Mary of Guilford," and of the 
coasts reconnoitered by her, was drawn during this voyage. 
But as it was usual on these royal or official expeditions to 
draw charts of their routes, we may infer, that it was done in 
this instance ; and also from the fact that they had on board 
a "• learned man," both a canon and a mathematician. Though 
it has not been preserved to us, it may have existed for some 
time in England, and have been used by later English map- 
makers. 

This voyage of the Mary of Guilford, in 1527, was the last 
official enterprise of the English to our waters and coasts, 
until the expedition of Sir John Hawkins, in 1565. 

The result of our examination of this expedition, so far as 
they relate to our special purpose, may be thus summed up : 

The coast of the country of Norumbega was visited by an 
English vessel in 1527. 

The Maiy of Guilford not only came in sight of the 
coast of Maine, but she also " often times put her men on 
land to search the state of these unknown regions ;" * and it 
is the first occasion of which we are distinctly informed, that 
Englishmen actually landed on this coast. 

It is not improbable, that it was on the occasion of this 

* Hakluyt, ed. of 1589, p. 517. 



RUTS EXPEDITION, 1527. 289 

landing, that the celebrated French navigator, Verrazano, 
was killed by the Indians. 

After Cabot, this was tjie second English expedition which 
sailed alono; the entire east coast of tlie United States, as far 
south as Carolina, — the country of Chicora. 

19 



APPENDAGE TO CHAPTER VIII, 



I. CHARTS FROM VERRAZANO. 

1. On Map, No. 13, of North America, made after Vkbra- 
ZANo's Chart, by Michael Lok, ix 1582. 

The charts made by Verrazano of his voyage in 1524 are, as I have 
before mentioned, unfortunately lost. Hakluyt, however, in 1582, when 
he published his " Divers Voyages," says, " an olde excellent mai^pe^ 
which Verrazano gave to king Henry VIII. existed still, and was then 
in the custodie of Master Michael Lok."* 

This " Master Lok " (or Locke) was the son of Sir William Locke, an 
alderman of London, and was a merchant, who during his life had 
made many and great travels through nearly all the countries of Eu- 
rope and in the East, and had also been for some time consul at Aleppo 
for the company of merchants of Turkey. He is said by Hakluyt, " to 
have been a man of knowledge, worthie, and of good reputation." To 
his own misfortune he became a great promoter of the expeditions un- 
dertaken for finding 'a north-west passage, and particularly of the voy- 
ages of Martin Frobisher in 157G-1578.t 

Being desirous of proving the iDossibility of a north-west passage, 
he composed with this view, probably for those who were interested 
in its discovery, a map of North America, on which he drew the coasts 
of tei-ra firma so far as they had become known to him, and, where no 
•country had been discovered, left open water. 

Hakluyt affirms, that Lok made his map " according to Verrazano's 
plat;" and he accordingly added it as an illustration to the report on 
Verrazano's voyage, published by him. In this we follow his example ; 
for though the map shows very few traces of Verrazano, still it is the 
only one known to us, which, according to good authority, pretends to 
have been taken partly at least from his charts. } 

* Hakluyt, Divers Voyages. Edited by J. Winter Jones, p. 11. London, 1850. 
t See tlie introduction of Mr. Jones to Hakluyt, Divers Voyages, p. xc. seq. 
t M. K. Thomassy, however, sayp, that there exists in Rome still another old 
(Chart relating to Verrazano's voyage, among the collections of the Propaganda. This 




Fold-out 
Placeholder 



This fold-out is being digitized, and will be inserted at 

future date. 




Fold-out 
Placeholder 



This fold-out is being digitized, and will be inserted 

future date. t 



CHARTS OF MICHAEL LOK, 1582. 291 

Hakluyt's " Divers Voyages," first published in 1582, had become very 
rare ; and still rarer the map contained in it. There were mot mor© 
than four copies of it known in 1850. In that year it was republished 
by the Hakluyt Society, and of this our map. No. 13, is a reduced copy. 

The map has in the west the coast of Califoniia (Quiviri), beyond 
44° N. ; and on the coast of Florida the names, " River de May," etc., 
given by the French under Ribault. This could not have been taken 
from " Verrazano's plat," because it alludes to discoveries made a long 
time after his death. Much less could " Verrazano's plat " have served 
for the delineations given of the islands and straits in the high north: 
" Meta incognita," " Frobisher's Strait," etc., — names relating to discov- 
eries in the time of Lok himself. The trending and configiu-ation 
given to that part of the east coast of America, along which Verrazano 
had sailed, agrees also so little with the longitudes and distances given 
in Verrazano's report, that I find it difficult to believe, that our map is 
a copy from Verrazano's original survey. Master Lok probably took it 
from some one of the innumerable maps of his time, which was nearest 
at hand. 

The coast of Maine is, however, easily recognized by the chain of 
islands ranged along it, in 43° N. Among those islands there is one 
bearing the name of Claudia, which Verrazano is erroneously stated to 
have given in honor of the mother of Francis L The island, to which 
this name is supposed to have been given by Verrazano, lies on the south 
coast of New England, near Narraganset Bay. On our map and on 
many contemporary maps, it is located near the great river of Norum- 
bega (Penobscot Bay). 

The name '■ Norumbega," which is prominently written on this map^ 
was also conspicuous on all the maps in Lok's time. It was probably 
not taken from Verrazano's map. " Norumbega" (including here Nova 
Scotia and part of New England) is represented as a long island. The 
large strait which bounds it on the west, and runs from south to north, 

chart, according to Thomassy, is a sea chart representing a great part of the world.. 
An inscription on it says, that it was made by Hieronymus Verrazano, probably a 
brother of the discoverer, Giovanni Verrazano, ' live years after the voyage of the lat- 
ter," consequently in the year 1529. Unhappily, I have not been able, as yet, to pro- 
cure a copy of this chart. The notes of Thomassy give very little information of 
its contents or importance. See his article: " Les cartes g^jgraphiques et la carto- 
graphie du Vatican," in " Nouvelles Annales des voyaces, torn. 3, p. 269 seq., 1853." 
[In the MS. of Hakluyt, in the hands of the Maine Historical Society for publication, 
there is a reference to " a mightie large oldemappe in parchmente, made, as it should© 
seme, by Verrazauus, nows in the custodie of Mr. Micliael Locke;" and also to " an 
olde excellent globe in the Queene's privie gallory at Wostm'r, w'ch also seemeth to 
be of Verrazanus makinge." (Cap. 17, §§ 10, 11.)— Ed.] 



292 MAP OF BAPTISTA AGNESE, 1536. 

from the Atlantic to the great St. Lawrence, is by some supposed to be 
Hudson's river. And indeed this idea may have been suggested to Lok 
by Verrazano's chart. In looking into the broad mouth of Hudson 
Kiver, from which he was unfortunately beaten back by a Haw of wind, 
Verrazand may have thought this to be an open passage. But he could 
not have thought it connected with the St. Lawrence River; for in 1524 
he had no knowledge of that river. Besides, the river in question is 
too far east and north for the Hudson. Its connection with the St. 
Lawrence may be a mere invention of Master Lok. And other rivers 
and inlets of our coast, besides the Hudson, were supposed at that time 
to be branches or outlets of the St. Lawrence. 

On the western coast of North America, a gulf is drawn, appi-oaching 
from the great eastern ocean so near to the Atlantic, as to leave only 
an isthmus between them no wider than that of Panama, and thus di- 
viding North America into two great continents. Something like this 
delineation may have been seen by Master Lok on the chart of Verra- 
zano ; as otherwise he would hardly have designated this gulf as he 
does on his map, by the inscription, " Mare de Verrazana, 1.524." 

The great merit of this map is the correct manner in which Fro- 
bisher's discoveries are laid down. On many subsequent maps they 
were widely misijlaced, and led to serious geographical mistakes. But 
I do not propose to point them out in this place. 

Whether Master Lok took from Verrazano's plat all these traditional 
and fabulous islands, " Sept Cites," " I. Brandan," " Emperada," etc., 
with which he has filled the Atlantic Ocean, it is impossible to tell. Per- 
haps his cosmographical wisdom and his antiquarian tastes, had in- 
spired him with a certain fondness for these old names. They had 
disappeared long before his time from all authentic and ofl&cial French 
and Spanish maps. But they lingered for some time after in the maps 
compiled by learned geographers. Lok disposes of them very much 
after the manner of old Ortelius, in the year 1.570. 

2. On Map, No. 14, op Ameeica, by Baptista Aqnese, 1536. 

Baptista Agnese was an Italian cosmographer and map-maker of 
Venice, who is better known by his numerous works, than by the cir- 
cumstances of his life. He lived in the first half of the sixteenth cen- 
tury. He appears to have been settled at Venice, where he found a 
large circle of persons interested in the western discoveries of the 
Spaniards, Portuguese, [French, and English. His works were pub- 
lished principally in Venice, between the years 15S0 and 1545. He was 
no traveler or discoverer himself, but received his information from 
<sthers. He is said " to have composed his maps for the curious."" 



o 

3 

o 



I 






-J 




X 



MAP OF BAPTISTA AGNESE, 1536. 293 

Though his cartographical works, as historical documents, are not of 
much importance, still we see reflected in them the ideas and con- 
iectures current in his time respecting the configuration of the new 
world. 

Many of his maps are still preserved in several collections of Ger- 
many, France, Italy, and England. Some of them I have seen in 
Dresden, others in the library of the Duke of Gotlia, some in Paris 
others in the British Museum ; and there are others still in the excel- 
lent collection of Mr. Henry Huth of London, to whose extreme kind- 
ness I am indebted for photographs of such of them as appeared useful 
to our iJresent purpose. 

All these maps of Agnese are executed with great skill and taste, 
beautifully embellished with colors and gold, drawn upon the best of 
parchment, all in the same style and handwriting, and according to 
the same geographical ideas ; so that even when the author's name is 
not given, as in some instances is the case, his works are easily recog- 
nized and identified. 

The work, of which our IS"©. 15 is a fragment, is a Portolano, or col- 
lection of sea-charts, which represents all the known coasts of the 
world upon ten plates. Upon nine of these plates the several coun- 
tries are depicted separately and minutely ; and upon the tenth, there 
is a resume of the whole, in a complete picture of the world. We give 
here, in a somewhat i-educed compass, the western half of this picture. 

The Portolano is preserved in the Royal Library at Dresden. In the 
catalogue of that library it is described as " a work of Baptista Agnese, 
made in the year 1.536 ;" though neither the name nor the date were 
given to his atlas by Agnese himself. However, the statement of the 
catalogue is rendered quite certain from internal evidence. There is, 
moreover, in the British Museum, a similar parchment atlas (Manu- 
script Department, No. 54(i.3), which has the following inscri^jtion, in 
the handwriting of the author, " Bapt. Agnese, Venetiis, 1536." Both 
works, which I have compared, have exactly the same configuration of 
the several parts of the world, the same embellishments ; as, for in- 
stance, the same delineation, even as to figure and number, of the 
golden mountains in the central parts of South America. 

At the time when this map was composed, the discovery of Magel- 
lan was recent; and still more recent, the discoveries of Pizarro along 
the coasts of Peru. The more southern parts of Peru and Chili were 
unknown. The great oceanic route through Magellan's Strait to the 
Moluccas, and the highway over the Isthmus of Panama to the golden 
country of the Incas, had, however, been frequently traversed; and 
they might, to a certain degree, be considered as beaten tracks. They 



294 MAP OP BAPTISTA AGNESE, 1536. 

are pointed out on our map by clear and distinct lines, as well as that 
long-known highroad of the Portuguese to the East Indies round the 
Cape of Good Hope. On the original, tlie Peruvian track, called " el 
viago de Peru" (the way to Peru), is gilded; the routes through Ma- 
gellan's Strait, and round the Cape of Good Hope, are only silvered; 
which embellishments we have not attempted to reproduce in our copy. 
The road through Magellan's Strait is designated as the track for going 
{de andar) to the Moluccas ; that round the Cape of Good Hope, as the 
track for returning from them. 

In North America, we find only Mexico and its vicinity represented 
as being known on both sides. The exploring expeditions of Cortes to 
California, and the charts made by his captains, could not have been 
known to our Italian author in the year 1533. They had but just 
commenced their exploration in these regions. On a map which was 
made a few years later,* the same author has laid down the Peninsula 
of California, — a proof that the geographers in Venice became soon ac- 
quainted with the new discoveries. 

De Soto had not, as yet, discovered his great " River of the Holy 
Cross" (tlie Mississippi). And the discovery of another great river of 
North America (the St. Lawrence), which Cartier had partially ex- 
plored in 15:51 and 1535, was evidently not known to our author in 1536. 
On the entire east coast of North America no great river had been no- 
ticed. Hence thefe was nothing to hinder the Italian geographers and 
map-makers, at the time of the composition of this map, from repre- 
senting North America as narrow and as meagre as they wished to 
have it. It was their opinion and wish, often expressed in their works , 
that on the west coast of America, from tlie termination of the voyage of 
Cortes on the Pacific coast of Mexico, the shore would turn quickly, 
and run in a north-eastern dii-ection " to the point of Labrador," (alia 
punta di Labrador). 

Our author entertained this idea, and has represented the whole of 
North America as an extremely narrow strip of land, and the greater 
part of the western coast, by a dotted line ; both evidently showing that 
his draft is a matter of conjecture. The countries surrounding the 
Gulf of Mexico, and also Labrador and the vicinity, called on our map 
by the old name, " terra de Baccalaos," were generally admitted to be 
broad tracts of country. But the section including New England and 
New York, Avas at that time generally regarded as the narrowest part 
of the continent. 

On some former maps, as I have stated, this part of the counti-y was 
depicted as an open space, with broad water between the north and 



* A map dated 1514, preserved in the Royal Library of Dresden. 



MAP OF BAPTISTA AGNESE, 1536. " 295 

south; because at that time, the statements of Cabot and the dehnea- 
tions of CosaVmap of the continuity of the coast, were not beUeved. 
But in 1530, after the explorations of Verrazano and Gomez, this fact 
could no longer be denied. The broad water-gaps must, of course, 
have then disappeared ; while many inlets and narrow passages, not 
seen by navigators, would still be believed in, and be entered upon 
their maps many years later. 

The Western Ocean, the so-called Pacific, approaches, on our map, 
nearest to the Atlantip between 40° and 45° N. In 40° N. is depicted 
a hook-like promontory, projecting in a manner strikingly similar to 
the "C. arenas," (Cape Cod?) drawn on the map of Lok, after the 
" plat of Verrazano." Here lies a very narrow strip of land, somewhat 
like the Isthmus of Panama, running through five degrees of latitude. 
By this delineation, the section of the continent running duo west of 
the present States of New England is very much contracted, and 
forms a very narrow isthmus between the Atlantic and Pacific. It 
was this imaginary isthmus which led Francis I. and his captain Ver- 
razano, to direct to this region the expedition of 1524 in search of a 
passage to Cathay. And although Verrazano was arrested by a con- 
tinuous coast, he did not give up the hope, that he might find an open- 
ing somewhere ; at any rate, he was confident that the Western Ocean 
was quite near. 

From Lok's copy of Verrazano's chart, on which these ideas were 
depicted, we conclude that such was, at this time, the prevailing opin- 
ion in France and Italy. 

Agnese delineates on his chart a third, or northern, great highway 
through America to the eastern countries of Asia. He makes it com- 
mence at some harbor of France, perhaps in Normandy ; then passes 
it by water, or over a narrow strip of land, across the isthmus of New 
England, into the neighboring Pacific Ocean, and thence directly on a 
straight course to " Cataia provincia " (the province of Cathay) and the 
great city of Quinsay, which he places at the north of the Moluc- 
cas. He calls the dotted line marking this course " el viages de 
France" (the voyages of France). That he is not, however, quite sure of 
the correctness of this third highway across America to Asia, may be 
inferred from the fact, that while he indicates this way by dots only, 
he represents the passages of Spain and Portugal by gilded and sil- 
vered tracings. 

The particular interest which the map has for our locality is, that it 
makes New England a narrow isthmus between the Atlantic and 
Pacific, across which the proposed highway of the king of France runs 
directly to China. 



296 MAPS BY DIFFERENT AUTHORS, 1530-1544, 



3. On Four Maps, No. 15 a, b, c, d, of North America, by differ- 
ent Authors between 1530 and 1544. 

The general features of the map of Agnese just described, such as 
the meagre continent, the proximity of the Atlantic and Pacific, the 
narrow isthmus of New England, and the highway over it from France 
to China, were retained on many maps after that time. It would be 
tedious and unnecessary to mention them in detail. But I have 
selected some of them from difterent author^, and brought them 
together on map No. 15. By this it will be perceived, that the ideas 
to which I have alluded, were deeply rooted in the minds of geogra- 
phers in the middle of the sixteenth century. I have been able to 
include these various drafts on a single plate, because they contain very 
few names, with rough outlines, and no minute work. 

The first map. No. 15 a, is a sketch of North America, from a map of 
the new world contained in the Ptolemy, edited in Basle, 1530. The 
map was drawn and engraved a few years after Verrazano's expedi- 
tion. It has nothing of the Spanish expeditions to Peru and California. 

The plate upon which it was engraved, must have been in use for a 
long time; for the same map a^ipears both in earlier and in much later 
editions of Ptolemy, without any corrections or additions whatever. 
The same also reappears in the cosmography of Sebastian Miinster, 
published in Basle. I myself have seen the same delineation in an 
edition of Miinster of the year 1572. It may also have been presented 
to the " curious public" in still later works. 

In the work from which I take the sketch, it has the very an- 
cient title "No varum insularum descripto" (a description of the new 
islands). And after this, follows a Latin note, of which the following 
is a verbal translation : " Nearly infinite is the number of new islands, 
which, since the year 1492 until this day, have been discovered by the 
Spaniards. The most remarkable of these islands are America,* Cuba, 
Hispaniola, Francisca,t terra Florida. America received her name from 
the discoverer; and, from its magnitude, the whole is called a New 
World. It has several adjacent islands, namely : Pariana and Ilispana, 
which is also called Ophir." 

North America is circumscribed within narrow limits. " Zipangu" is 
very near to Mexico, surrounded by the " Archipelago of 7448 islands," 
taken from the maps of the time before Behaim and Columbus. New 
England is located upon the narrow isthmus above mentioned, and is 

*The name "America," for a long time was applied only to South America, 
t Canada. 




Fold-out 
Placeholder 



This fold-out is being digitized, and will be inserted at 

future date. 



Y * 




•A- -d 



Fold-out 
Placeholder 



This fold-out is being digitized, and will be inserted 

future date. 



RUSCELLI'S MAP, 1544. 297 

partly included in " Francisca," the old name of N^ew France. All the 
rest of North America is placed under the head of " Terra Florida." 
Newfoundland is called " Corterati," a corruption of the name Corte- 
real. The other names on the map will explain themselves. 

It is an extraordinary fact, that such a sketch should have heon pub- 
lished repeatedly in works of high repute, for more than half a century, 
until 1572. It shows how slowly improvements were made in maps 
prepared for the instruction of the people. The map, No. 1.5 a, has 
this particular interest for us, that it is probably the first on which 
" the Sea of Verrazano" was depicted in the form given to it by Lok, 
in 1582. I have found no map prior to 1530, on which this delineation 
appears. 

No. 15 b. This sketch of North America is taken from a map said 
to have been made by Girolamo Kuscelli,* of Viterbo, of whom some 
account has already been given, in treating (Appendage to Chap. VI, 
§ 2) of the map. No. 12. That map was composed by him in 1561 ; but 
before that date he must have composed others. And our sketch is a 
reduced copy of one of those ascribed to him, which I found in the 
British Museum, bearing the date of 1544. On this map Kuscelli draws 
the isthmus of New England according to the notions of Agnese and 
the author of No. 15 a, which probably were the original ideas of Verra- 
zano. He presents, however, the " Sea of Verrazano " as a part of the 
Northern Ocean (Oceanus Settentrionalis). As on the former maps, 
North America has here only two principal sections, " La Florida" and 
" Terra de Baccalaos." At the south-west of Florida appears New 
Spain, " Nueva Hispania." In respect to the connection of the new 
world, with Asia on one side, and with Europe on the other, Kuscelli 
adhered to the old ^notions. As Peschel says, " he fell back into the 
old Ptolemaic errors." t He represents North America as connected 
on a broad line with Asia. His "India superior" (Cathay) stands at 
no great distance north-east of New Spain. A similar error was made, 
at a later date, by other geographers. On the other side^ he connects 
" Terra de Baccalaos," including New England, Canada, Nova Scotia, 
Newfoundland, Labrador, by the way of " Grotlandia," with " Norve- 
gia" in Europe; so that the whole North Atlantic, on his map, as on 
the old Scandinavian maps, is surrounded in the north, by continuous 
land. And he repeats, in the difierent editions of his Italian Ptolemy 
of 1561, 1563, exactly the same description of America. 

* See upon Kuscelli, T. Lelewel, Geographie du moyen age, torn. 1, p. 170. Brussels, 
1852. 

t Peschel, Geschichte der Erdkunde, p. 371. Miinchen, 1865. 



298 MAP OF 1536. 

No. 15 c. This is a fraojment of a map, contained in a manuscript 
Portolano, preserved in the Bodleian hbrary at Oxford. On one of the 
maps of this Portolano, we see in the handwriting of the map, the date, 
" 1536 die martii." The author is nowhere mentioned. But it is shown 
from internal evidence, that the author must have been either the Por- 
tuguese Diego Ilomem, or the Italian Baptista Agnese, both of whom 
repeatedly gave on their maps exactly the same configurations of the 
countries brought to view, as are represented on our sketch. The map 
is quite similar to No. 14, with this difference only, that the great 
oceanic highroad from France to Cathay, in the present sketch, runs 
through an open passage between " Terra de Baccalaos " (Newfound- 
land and Labrador) and " Terra de los Bretones " (Nova Scotia and 
New England), and not, as on No. 14, over the Isthmus of New Eng- 
land. At the time when the author made this mai) he must have been 
acquainted, either with the discoveries on the St. Lawrence River by 
Cartier in 1534 and 1535, or, at least, with Cartier's intentions and plans 
for these expeditions. Cartier, as well as other explorers of this time, 
who entered any inlet or river-mouth on our east coast, thought he had 
found an opening to the Pacific and to Cathay. It was a general belief, 
for some time after Cartier, that " his river" (the St. Lawrence) was not 
a river at all, but a broad opening, an oceanic passage or highway to 
Northern China. Even Ramusio, as I have before remarked, stated, in 
1533, that all the countries seen by Cartier toward the north, were prob- 
ably only islands cut up by channels.* This map indicates the north- 
west passage to China, which Cartier suggested, by a dotted line from 
a harbor in France across the Atlantic, entering the American conti- 
nent between " Terra de los Bretones " and " Terra de Baccalaos," and 
reaching the coast of "Cataia provincia" in about 40° N. Our maps, 
Nos. 14 and 15, are probably the first maps on which a north-west 
passage is distinctly drawn. 

No. 15 d. This number is a copy of a sketch of North America, 
made about the year 1540, by Diego Homem, a Portuguese. Homem 
was a well-known mai>-maker, of the first half of the sixteenth century, 
of whom I shall speak more fvilly hereafter. His maps and manner of 
composing them, are so similar to those of his contemporary Agnese, 
that one would think they had copied each other. Most probably the 
Italian copied the Portuguese. 

I annex here Homem's sketch merely for the purpose of showing, 
that, at the time of Verrazano's and Cartier's first voyages, North 
America was depicted even by the Portuguese as a very narrow coun- 

*See Ramusio in his Introductory Discourse, vol. 3, fol. 4. Vcnetia, 1556 . 




fin II ' 

i 



>> 






J.?^= |_|^| S-:?^ 




«0 












J 









I— < 



5/3 



^ 



c 



en 

CM, 



Q: 






:P: 




< 






Mi 






CHART OF RIBERO, 153J). 299 

try, with an isthmus in the region of New England. I found the map 
from which this is copied in tlie Britisli Museum, under tlie name of 
Diego Ilomcm, hut without a date. It must, liowever, be assigned to 
about the year 1540. For its explanation, I refer to my remarks on the 
sketches preceding it on the same plate. 



II. CHARTS TO GOMEZ. 

1. On Chart, No. 1G, of the East Coast of North #^merica, 
FROM A Map of the World, jjy Diego Ribero, in 1529. 

Diego Ribero was a very able map-maker and cosmographer of 
Spain, at the beginning of the sixteenth century. He is often men- 
tioned by the early Spanish historians, Comara, Oviedo, and Herrera, 
as "Maestro de hacer cartas" (a master in map-making), and as 
"Cosmograph de Su Majestad" (cosmographer of His Majesty). He is 
said to have made many charts, having for his partner in this business 
the Portuguese Pedro Reinel, of whom we have given a chart in No. 9. 
In 1524, at the celebrated junta of Badajoz, which was called upon to 
decide the difficult question about the division of the world between 
Spain and Portugal, Ribero was employed as " Consultor" (Counselor) 
"to furnish the members of that junta with the necessary charts, 
globes, and instruments." lie also made the charts for the second 
great expedition to the Straits of Magellan and the South Sea, under 
the command of Loaysa in 1525, who is said " to have had Ribero's 
charts on board." Ribero's charts were not made from actual survey ; 
for as far as we know, he never was a voyager and explorer, like Juan 
de la Cosa, who, for the most part, made his drawings on the spot. 
Ribero's maps and charts were all compilations, made by study and 
research. 

In 152G the emperor Charles V, hearing that the then existing sea- 
charts were very uncertain and contradictory, appointed a commission 
of cosmographers and pilots, under the presidency of Don Hernando 
Colon, the son of the great Christopher; and ordered them to review 
and correct the Spanish charts ; to bring them into harmony and uni- 
formity, and to make such additions as were required by recent dis- 
coveries. This c ommission prepared a map of the world, drawn on 
parchment, which is preserved in the collections of the Grand Duke of 
Weimar in Germany; on which is an inscription stating that it was 
drawn by " a cosmographer of his Majesty," probably Hernando Colon 
himself, in the year 1527. 

Ribero, as one of the commissioners, was probably employed on thii 
map of 1627. However this may be, in the year 1529 he composed a 



800 CHART OF RIBEEO, 1529, 

similar map of the world, which, in exactness and beauty, sitrpassed 
that of 1527; and which contained, in addition, the Spanish discove- 
ries made after that date. This document, drawn on parchment, after 
having passed through several hands, is also preserved in the collec- 
tions of the Grand Duke of Weimar. The emperor, Charles V, prob- 
ably carried it himself from Spain to Germany, on his journey through 
Italy to Augsburg in 1530. In Bologna, where, at the end of 1529, he 
had an interview with the Pope, he probably showed him the map,* 
and presented him with the copy, which is still preserved in Rome.t 
And then, perhai^s, the Venetians also procured the copy which they 
printed and published in 1584, at Venice.}: 

As a work of great accuracy, and as an official map, " composed at 
the command of the emperor Charles V.," it has always attracted the 
attention of the learned, and has been copied and used by many per- 
sons. In subsequent times, when the discovery and exploration of 
America had made further progress, it was, like other old maps belong- 
ing to the beginning of the age of discovery, laid aside and forgotten. 
In modern times, when the history of American geography began to be 
treated in a more critical manner, it was again brought to light. A 
German geographei-, Sprengel, at the end of the eighteenth century 
wrote an essay on it; and that jjart of it which represents America 
was copied and engraved by Giisselfeldt, a German. This remarkable 
document attracted the earnest attention of the Baron Humboldt ; and 
he and the illustrious owner of the map, the Grand Duke Charles Au- 
gustus Saxe Weimar, are said to have been often observed sitting in 
that part of the grand ducal library, which is called " the tower," 
with this picture of the world before them, discussing the contents of 
the old parchment, and admiring its beautiful workmanship. In 1860, 
a fac-simile of this map of Ribero of 1529, and also of that of the year 
1527, were published, with critical notes, by the author of the present 
work. 

Our map, No. 16 is a reduced but exact copy of the east coast of 
North America, as given in this last-mentioned fac-simile. It is unne- 
cessary to give here the contents of the map of 1527, because it has 
throughout the same configuration of the east coast, and the same 
names with Ribero's map, though less perfect and less complete. A few 
exceptions to this remark I shall hereafter have occasion to mention. 

♦I have made this probable in a work published by me under the title : " Die beiden 
Aeltesten General-Karten von Amtrica," etc., p. 43-44, Weimar, 1860. 

t See M. R. Thomassy, Les Papes geographes, etc., in Nouvelles annales des voyages, 
III, p. 272 seq. 1853. 

Xl have a copy of this Venetian draft in my possession. It gives only the general 
features of our map. 



CHART OF RIBERO, 1529. 301 

Our map comprises the entire development of the North American 
east coast, from Florida in the south, to Greenland and Icoland in the 
north, and the greater western half of the North Atlantic Ocean. In the 
ocean, there may be observed, scattered through its vast spaces, a few 
of the old fabulous islands, " Brasil," " Maidas," "Ya Verde,"— the last 
remnants of the geographical myths of the middle ages, as they are 
about to disappear. 

" Iceland " has its true position in about 70° N. 

In the western part of the ocean we find " La Bermuda," discovered 
about 1526, in its true position. This is the first time that we see the 
Bermudas depicted on a map. Between these islands, in the midst of 
the ocean, on the usual home-track of the Spanish vessels, a ship is seen 
under full sail, with the inscription, " Vengo de las Indias" (I come 
from the Indies). 

Greenland, Labrador, and Newfoundland, on our map, have the same 
configuration as had been given to them on many former maps. They 
were probably taken from the Portuguese maps, drawn originally from 
the actual surveys of the Cabots and Cortereals ; for instance, from the 
map of Pedro Reinel (map No. 9) ; who, as has been before remarked, 
was a partner of Ribero, and perhaps his teacher. 

Greenland has here the same name given to it as on Portuguese 
maps, namely, " Tierra del Labrador," and has over it the inscription, 
"This country the English discovered; but there is nothing useful 
in it." 

Newfoundland and Labrador are joined by one continuous coast- 
line, and there is no indication of the Strait of Belle Isle, or of the insu- 
larity of Newfoundland. The south-eastern part of Newfoundland is, 
however, very well drawn, particularly its great south-eastern penin- 
sula, now called " Placentia and St. Mary." These bays and harbors, 
so well delineated, must all have been explored by observing seamen, 
before this map was drawn in 1529. 

" C. Rasso" (Race) has its true latitude of about 47° N. The name 
given to Newfoundland and Labrador is, "Tierra de los bacallaos;" 
and to this there is added the inscription, " which the Cortereals dis- 
covered, and they were lost here. Until now, nothing very useful has 
been found in it, except the cod-fishery, which, however, is of little 
esteem." 

This language of some Spanish cosmographer would certainly not 
have been admitted by the Portuguese, Normans, or Bretons, of that 
period. The disparaging terms of this inscription appear, however, to 
lend some support to the view of Navarrete, above quoted, that the 
Newfoundland fisheries were not much frequented by the Spanish 
Basques before the voyage of Gomez in 1525. 



302 CHART OF EIBERO, 1529. 

The inlet between " Tierra del Labrador" and " Tierra de los bacal- 
laos," the present Hudson's and Davis' Straits, is closed on our map, 
and represented as a gulf. The Gulf of St. Lawrence, south of New- 
foundland, is likewise closed. Both of these inlets, on the map of Her- 
nando Colon, 1527, are represented as being open. Some writers have 
suggested, that Ribero represents these waters as closed, not from 
ignorance, but by design, and for political reasons. The king of Spain, 
so these writers argue, wished to turn the attention of the English and 
French from the north-east coast of America, and throw obstacles in 
the way of their finding here a passage to the Pacific and China; and 
therefore ordered him to represent the coast as everywhere a continu- 
ous and unbroken continent.* Against this suggestion, however, there 
is this fact, if nothing else, that charts, like that of the royal cosmogra- 
pher Ribero, were made only for the vise of the king of Spain, and his 
officei'S ; and that to show such charts to foreigners, was regarded as 
high treason in Spain, unless this was done by the act of the emperor 
himself, as in his presenting them to the pope. 

At the west of the opening of the Gulf of St. Lawrence appears the 
square-shaped end of Cape Breton and the peninsula of Nova Scotia, 
called here as usual, " Tierra de los Bretones." The distance of the 
eastern point of this country from Cape Race, is here made about a 
hundred and twenty Spanish leagues, which is somewhat greater than 
the true distance. From that point for about three hundred leagues, 
the coast runs east and west; and then with a great bend, turns to the 
south. On this large section of the coast, we find the inscription, " The 
country of Stephen Gomez, which he discovered at the command of 
His Majesty in the year 1525. There are here many trees and fruits 
similar to those in Spain ; and many walrusses, and salmon and fish 
of all sorts. Gold they have not found." The name of the country 
" Tierra de Estevan Gomez " is written in large letters in the first line. 

* [The writers referred to have probably derived tlieir opinion from such statements 
as that of Sir Humphrey Gilbert in his " Discourse to prove a passage by tlie north- 
west to Cathaia," where, in chap. 10 (Hakluyi's Voyages, etc., vol. 3, p. 23, ed. of 1600, 
London), he says: " It is lilvely that the king of Spaine, and the king of Portugal!, 
would not have sit out [quietly] all this while, but that they are sure to possesse to 
themselves all that trade they now use, and feare to deale in this discovery, least the 
Queen's Majesty having so good opportunitie, and finding the commcditie which 
thereby might ensue to the commonwealth, would cut them off, and enjoy the whole 
IratTique herselfe, and thereby the Spaniards and I'ortiigals, with their great charges, 
should beate the bush, and other men catch the birds : which thing theij forfseeinff , have 
covimanded that iio pilot of theirs, upon paino of death, should seeke to discover to the 
Js'ortkwest, or plat out, in any Sea card, any ihorow passage that way by the North^^ 
teest."—Kv.] 



CHART OF RIBERO, 1529. 303 

Up to the year 1525, according to Ilerrera's statement, " no Spanish 
vessels hail sailed along this section of our coast." From the West 
India Islands in tlie south, the Spaniards, under the command of Ponce 
de Leon in 1512, and Ayllon in 1520, liad explored the coast north- 
ward to about 33° or 34° N. But in 152G, Ayllou had sailed as far north 
as about 38°, a little beyond Chesapeake Bay (Baia de St. Maria). 
From thence northward, the coast was unknown to the Spaniards, 
except by what they had heard about it from Sebastian Cabot, whose 
explorations had been delineated in Spain by Cosa, in 1500; and ex- 
cepting also, what they learned afterwards from the discoveries of 
Gomez in 1525. 

From these circumstances we may infer, that Ribero drew this section 
of oiir coast entirely from the explorations and reports of Gomez ; and 
we have in the names and coast-lines which he gives, a very good 
representation of this famous region, particularly interesting to us, on 
which the Spanish historians unhappily are so very deficient. 

I will endeavor to decipher and identify the names and objects given 
on our map, proceeding as Gomez himself did, from north-east to 
south-west. 

At the distance of about twenty-five leagues from the south-cast 
point of " tierra de los Bretones," we find an inlet on our map on which 
is written the name, "Rio de la buelta" (the river of return). It is 
possible that the " Gut of Canso " is meant here ; that Gomez looked 
into it, and not finding the outlet, returned from it. 

About twenty-five leagues onward to the west, we find a bay with 
some small islands before it, with the name, " sarf-ales " (brambles). 
There are on the coast of Nova Scotia many islets with brambles and 
shrubs. The distance above given would bring us to the Bay of Hali- 
fax, which possibly is indicated here. 

About twenty leagues further to the west comes another inlet with 
the name, " R. de montaiias" (the River of Mountains). The distance 
brings us to the bays and harbors of Metway and Bristol. Mr. Blunt, 
in his Coast Pilot says, that near Metway harbor, some inland hum- 
mocks may be seen ; and he observes, that to the west of Halifax the 
highlands of Apostogon and La Have are in sight on the coast.* Per- 
haps Gomez saw these highlands near his " R. de montanas." 

About thirty leagues further west, a somewhat larger opening occurs, 
with the name of " Golfo." It is possible, that the broad entrance of 
the Bay of Fundy is meant here. Gomez ijrobably saw something of 
this entrance ; but fog or other unfavorable circumstances may have 
prevented him from observing it more accurately. 

• See Blunt, American Coast Pilot, 18th edition, p. 178. New York, 1857. 



304 CHART OF RIBEEO, 1529. 

Passing from Cape Sable, tlie western cape of Nova Scotia, and hav- 
ing caught only a glimpse of the Bay of Fundy, in the midst of fogs 
and storms, Gomez descried a coast on which he perceived a long se- 
ries of reefs, breakers, headlands, and small islands. He describes the 
coast west of the " Golfo " by the words " medauos" (sand-hills) and 
"arecifes " (reefs). He puts down also small islands along the coast- 
line. Here we are evidently on the much indented and broken coast 
of Maine, which abounds in islands far more than Nova Scotia, or any 
other section of the American east coast. 

About sixty leagues to the west of" Golfo" (Bay of Fundy), there is 
depicted a long, deep, triangular inlet, full of islands, running directly 
south and north, and ending at the north in a river. It is the most 
prominent object on the whole coast. The latitude given to its mouth 
is 44° N., and the longitude about that of the island of Bermuda. 

This description agrees nearly in every point with the broad triangu- 
lar Penobscot Bay, the largest inlet and river on the coast of New Eng- 
land. Gomez probably entered this inlet, and explored it more accu- 
rately than any other part of the coast ; and in his report to the king 
may probably have lavished his praises on its harbors, its islands, and 
beautiful scenery. Since the year 1.529, it is delineated on subsequent 
maps in the same manner as Eibero has here depicted it, after the sur- 
veys of Gomez. On these maps it is sometimes called " Rio Grande " 
(Great River) or " Rio de las Gamas" (Deer River), or, at a later date, 
" the great river of Norumbega." 

West of this river appears the name, " C. de muchas yslas " (the cape 
of many islands). It would be difficult to say, to which particular point 
or cape of the many headlands " surrounded by islands " west of Pe- 
nobscot Bay, we should ascribe this name. Judging strictly from the 
latitude, we might suppose it to be Cape Elizabeth ; but looking at other 
circumstances, should incline to the opinion, that some headland in 
the neighborhood of Owl's Head is intended.* 

About thirty leagues west of Penobscot Bay occurs the name " mon- 
tanas" (mountains); and these mountains must have been regarded 
by Gomez and subsequent map-makers and navigators as very con- 
spicuous objects ; for henceforth they never disappear from their maps 
of this region. They are sometimes found marked even on maps which 
have no other names inscribed. They are jjlainly intended to describe 
the " White Mountains " of New Hampshire. These may be seen near 
the mouth of the Kennebec, and along the coast of Casco Bay, and 

* [See for this, "Die Beiden Aeltesten Gencral-Karten von Amerika," von J. G. 
Kohl, p. 64. Weimar, 1850.— Ed.] 



CHART OF RIBERO, 1529. 305 

were doubtless sighted by Gomez, on his exploration of this region, 
and marked on his chart. 

The numerous islands by which the bending coasts in this vicinity 
are skirted, would seem to be those of Casco Bay. 

Next appears the name, " Arcipelago de Estevan Gomez " (the Archi- 
pelago of Stephen Gomez), written very prominently and at full length. 
I think it was not meant to designate any one of the smaller bays or 
inlets of this region, but the entire Gulf of Maine; and that perhaps it 
may be considered as the first name, by which this gulf was designated 
on the old charts.* At all events, it will become quite clear in the se- 
quel from other authorities, that the name " Arcipelago of Estevan Go- 
mez " has always been given either to the entire Gulf of Maine, or to 
some section of the waters north of Cape Cod. 

The coast from this point bends round to the south-west and south, 
much in accordance with the trending of the coast-line of New Hamp- 
shire and Massachusetts, ending at the south, like that, in a peninsula 
projecting eastwardly, and called " Cabo de Arenas " (the Sandy Cape), 
and forming a bay exactly resembling the Gulf of Maine. 

This cape has about the longitude of St. Domingo. It has the con- 
figuration of a horn, and is hooked or pointed like Cape Cod. Like 
that, it also has banks and shoals at the east; and like that forms a 
kind of cul de sac on the west, between the hook and the main-land. In 
respect to its longitude, its configuration, its sandy soil, its shoals on 
the east, its little bay on the west, it agrees with Cape Cod, and was 
intended, we can scarcely doubt, to represent this prominent feature 
of the New England coast; although the latitude of" Cabo de Arenas," 
the northern point of which is in 40° N., is two degrees lower than the 
northern point of Cape Cod, which lies in 42° N. 

As far down as " Cabo de Arenas," the coast is lined, as before, with 
a chain of small islands, which thus forms the distinguishing feature 
of the whole east coast of New England. South of Cape Cod, no such 
coast islets appear within the limits of the United States. 

It is scarcely credible that a navigator, sailing like Gomez along our 
coast from Newfoundland, in a direction from north-east to south-west, 
and following the coast-line, as he did, in search of an open passage, 
could have overlooked so prominent a headland as Cape Cod. Neither 
the Northmen nor Sebastian Cabot, on their voyages, failed to observe 
and represent it. Nor at a later period, did it escape the observation 
of the French under De Monts. Sailing in the same direction, they 

* I shall make this more probable in reviewing the maps of Chaves, and the descrip- 
tion of this coast by Oviedo, in the following section. 
20 



306 CHART OF RIBEEO, 1529. 

were caught and arrested by this remarkable cape, and entered it ou 
their charts by the name of " Cape Blanc " and " Malebarre." 

The other capes in the neighborhood of 40° jST., which have been sup- 
posed by some authors to be intended by " Cabo de Arenas," — for in- 
stance, Sandy Hook near New York, and Cape Henlopen near Phila- 
delphia, — are located too far to the west to answer to a cape placed in 
the longitude of St. Domingo, and are hardly prominent enough to an- 
swer to the bold projection of this cape, as delineated on the map of 
Ribero. 

There is still another ground for concluding, that the " Cabo de Are- 
nas " of Ribero and Gomez is neither Sandy Hook nor Cape Henlopen, 
but Cape Cod. We know for certain, that the " Baia de Sta. Maria " is 
the old name for Chesapeake Bay. Now this " Baia" is placed by Rib- 
ero five degrees south of his " Cabo de Arenas ;" and live degrees is the 
true distance between Chesapeake Bay and Cape Cod, and much more 
than the distance between that bay and Cape Henlopen or Sandy 
Hook. 

There are, however, some serious objections to the view, that "Cabo de 
Arenas" is Cape Cod. I shall show hereafter, that the names found on 
this map between " Cabo de Arenas " and " Arcipelago de Estevan Go- 
mez," namely, " S. Juan Baptista," " R. de buena madre," " Montagna 
verde," " b. de S. Antonio," " b. de S. Christoval," are applied by sub- 
sequent authors on their- maps to localities situated south-west of Cape 
Cod ; particularly the name St. Antonio, which is given by them to 
Hudson River. Hence if we insist, that " Cabo de Arenas " is Cape Cod, 
we must admit that Ribero was greatly mistaken in putting names 
along the Gulf of Maine which belong to the neighborhood of New 
York, and in leaving out of his map the Bay of New York altogether. 

But great as these difficulties may be, there would perhaps be still 
greater on the supposition, that Sandy Hook, Cape Henlopen, or some 
other southern cape, was meant by the " Cabo de Arenas." On this 
supposition we should find on our maj) no indication whatever of 
Cape Cod, that most prominent object on the coast, with the banks 
and shoals in its offing, so difficult to the navigator; and should be 
driven to the inadmissible supposition, that it had been entirely un- 
noticed both by Gomez and Ribero. My own opinion is, that the coast 
was correctly delineated by Ribero, but that he put some names in 
the wrong places. Before i^roceeding to vindicate this oi)inion, I shall 
adduce for evidence, in subsequent pages, some new documents regard- 
ing the voyage of Gomez and our coast of New England. 

In concluding the present section, I will say a few words on the 
remaining portion of this map. 



CHART OF CHAVES, 153G. 307 

The southern division of the coast, from " Cabo de Arenas " to Flor- 
ida, is called on our map "Tierra de Ayllon" (the country of Ayllon), 
the name of the well-known commander of two expeditions, by which, 
in 1520 and ir)2(i, our east coast was discovered' as far north as Bahia 
de Sta. JNIaria (Chesai)eake Bay). The names on the east coast in the 
neigliborhood and south of this bay, are all derived from Ayllon's 
expeditions. 

I will only add, that the " line of demarcation," as determined by the 
pope and the treaty of Tordesillas in 1494, is .indicated on our map in 
the same manner as it had been on former maps, by a line drawn at a 
distance of oTO leagues (five degrees of longitude) west of the island of 
San Antonio, the westernmost of the Cape de Verde group ; and that 
in this partition, it allots to Spain " Tierra de Estevan Gomez," includ- 
ing New England and Nova Scotia, and to Portugal " Tierra de los Ba- 
callaos "' and " Tierra del Labrador," including the eastern part of New- 
foundland, and all east of it.* 

2. Ox CUART OF THE EAST COAST OP NOUTir AMERICA, BY AlONZO 

DE Chaves ix 1530, axd Oviedo's Desceiptiox of the Coast 
m 1.537. 

Oviedo relates,! that in the year 153(5 the emperor Charles V. is- 
sued an order to this effect : " that the charts for navigators and the 
' padrones ' (muster-charts) should be examined and corrected by some 
learned and experienced persons," whom he selected for the purpose. 
In pursuance of this order, a map was constructed and issued by Alon- 
so de Chaves, representing the new Spanish discoveries, and the entire 
geographical knowledge of the time; in the same manner as a learned 
commission under the imperial order had prepared and issued, in 1527 
and 1529, the maps of Diego Colon and Diego Ribero. 

Unhappily neither the original, nor even a good copy of this remark- 
able and important map of Chaves, has come to our knowledge. But 
Oviedo had it before him when he wrote his most interesting descrip- 
tion of the east coast of North America, contained in chai)ters IX-XI, 
book XXI. of his " History of the Indias ;"j: which is the fullest and best 
Spanish report on our coast of the snxteenth century. We may there- 

* [See J. G. Kohl's work before cited, " Die bcidon altesten General-Karten," etc., 
pp. 11-14.— Ed.] 

t Oviedo, llistoria General de las Indias, parte segunda, torn. 1, p. 150. Madrid, 
1852. 

$ Oviedo, llistoria General do las Indias, parte segunda, torn. 1, pp. 143-15-'. Mad- 
rid, 1852. 



308 CHART OF CHAVES, 1536. 

fore consider this report of Oviedo as a description of the contents of 
Chaves' map, and as the result of the experience and views of the Span- 
ish geographers in the year 1536. Oviedo calls this chart a modern 
w^ork ; and says, " that it was recently made in the late year 1530 " (carta 
moderna, que nuevamente se corregio el ano que jjassb de mill e quini- 
entos y treynta y seys anos). It is thus evident, that he wrote the de- 
scription, and the chapter of his great work in which it occurs, in 1537. 

Oviedo begins his description of our east coast at the south v^itli 
Cape Florida, which he calls " Punta de la Florida," putting it in 25° 40' 
N. This latitude agrees very nearly with the ti'ue position of that cape. 

The great cape on the east coast of Florida, which Ponce de Leon 
discovered in 1513, and which he called " Cabo de Corrientes " (Cape of 
the currents), is called by Oviedo "Cabo de Canaveral" (Cape of the 
reeds). We do not know by whom, or at what time, that celebrated 
name was introduced. Oviedo puts it a little too lew in 28° N. 

From Cape Caiiaveral to " Cabo de Sta. Cruz," a name introduced by 
Ponce de Leon, there is, according to Oviedo, a distance of forty-five 
leagues. Between both capes, he says, the coast runs to the north ; but 
from Cabo de Sta. Ci-uz it begins to change its direction toward the 
north-east. Accordingly we must look for this " Cabo de S. Cruz " 
somewhere north of St. John's Kiver, — if it is not this coast-section 
itself, projecting somewhat near this river. 

From " Cabo de Sta. Cruz," where the direction of the coast changes, 
to " Cabo de Sta. Elena," the distance is, according to Oviedo, sixty 
leagues; and he puts this cape in 33° N. On this coast-section he 
designates the following places : 

1. A river, called " Mar Baxa," twenty leagues north-east of Cabo de 
Sta. Cruz. It may be the Altamaha. 

2. A river, called "Rio Seco" (dry river), ten leagues from "Mar 
Baxa," or thirty leagues from C. de Sta. Cruz. Perhaps the " Savannah " 
is meant. 

3. A cape called "Cabo Gruesso" (the big cape), ten leagues north- 
east of Rio Seco. This Cabo Gruesso is found on many Spanish maps, 
but we will not venture to say what cape may be meant by it. 

From Cape St. Helena to " Cabo Trafalgar " the distance is, according 
to Oviedo, one hundred and twenty leagues ; and this cape lies in 35° 30' 
N. This Cabo Trafalgar is found on nearly all the old Spanish charts, 
and must have been a very ijrominent headland. Some authors have 
supposed that Cape Lookout, others that Cape Fear was designated 
by it; and several old maps may be adduced in suppoi't of these 
different views. But following Oviedo's latitude we should conclude, 
that. Cape Ilatteras was intended, which stands only some minutes 



CHART OF CHAVES, 1530. 309 

lower. Tliis becomes nearly certain, from the fact that Oviedo, after 
" Cape Trafalgar," puts down no other cape for a distance of forty 
leagues. 

In the intermediate space between Cape Sta. Helena and " Cabo de 
Trafalgar," Oviedo mentions the following points : 

1. " Rio de Sta. Elena," which is mentioned in connection with the 
cape, and, a little further on, "Eio Jordan,"' our Port Royal, and St. 
Helena Sound. 

2. " Cabo de St. Roman " is put down thirty leagues from the Cape 
Sta. Helena in 32° 30' N., which agrees quite well with Cape St. Romain. 
It is only twenty minutes too high. The distance of thirty leagues is 
rather too great, if Castilian leagues (17^ to a degree) are meant, which 
is probable. Nearly all the distances of Oviedo are too great, suppos- 
ing that he gives rectilinear distances. But he may have followed in his 
measurement the indentations of the coast, as a mariner sailing along 
the shore would be likely to do. 

3. Near Cabo St. Roman the "Rio de las Canoas" (Canoe River), 
empties into the sea. This river appears very often on Spanish maps 
near Cape St. Romain, and probably the " Pedee " or "Santee" is 
intended by it, because no other river is laid down near this cape. 

4. Not far from Cabo de Trafalgar on the south-west, two rivers or 
inlets are mentioned: "Rio del Principe" and "Rio de Trafalgar." It 
is possible that some outlets of Pamlico Sound are alluded to by these 
names. 

" All this country," remarks Oviedo, after having mentioned Cabo 
Trafalgar, "was discovered by Ayllon;" from which we are confirmed 
in the opinion already expressed, that these names (Cape Trafalgar in- 
cluded) originated with Ayllon in 1520 and 1536. 

From Cabo Trafalgar (Hatteras) to "Cabo de San Johan," Oviedo 
makes it forty leagues, and between them midway places the " Bahia 
de Santa Maria." This distance from Cape Hatteras to " Cabo St. Jo- 
han," would take us to some point of the eastern coast of Delaware. 
The entrance to the " Bahia de Santa Maria " is placed by Oviedo in 
36° 40' N., which thus represents Chesapeake Bay, the mouth of which 
lies in 37° N. This becomes more evident from the subsequent Span- 
ish historians, Barcia for instance, who puts " St. Mary's Bay " in 37° N., 
and north of Cape Trafalgar. This excludes the opinion which might 
be drawn from Ribero's map, that Pamlico or Albemarle Sound might 
have been meant by it. 

The discovery of this bay was made by Ayllon in 1526, and in 1529 
Ribero puts it on his map for the first time ; but somewhat lower than 
the true latitude of Chesapeake Bay. 



310 CHART or CHAVES, 153G. 

Oviedo represents ''Eio del Espiritu Santo*' ( II oly Ghost river) as 
discharging into the western, and the "RioSalado" (salt river) into 
the eastern part of the bay. The "Holy Ghost Eiver" is probably 
James River. These rivers are also found on the map of Ribero, and 
are init down on nearly all the Spanish charts of the sixteenth century. 

" Cabo de St. Johan " is put by Oviedo only one-third of a degree 
north of Chesapeake Bay. But at the same time he makes the distance 
between both points nearly twenty leagues. It is impossible to tell 
what island or headland on the peninsula of Delaware may have been 
meant by it. 

The next point is " Cabo de las Arenas " (cape of the sands). Oviedo 
says, that it lies in ;JS° 20' N., and thirty leagues from " Cabo St,- 
Johan ; " that is, fifty leagues from Chesapeake or St. Mary's Bay. 

This points rather clearly to Cape Ilenlopen, though the distance, 
fifty leagues, carries us a little north, and the latitude " 08° 20' " a little 
south of it. Oviedo does not describe his " Cabo de las Arenas" as a 
very prominent point, though all the old Spanish charts, and those 
made after them, place a cape bearing this name in about 40° N., 
and represent it as a very prominent object. They give to it nearly the 
sliape of our Cape Cod. It is so drawn for the first time on the map 
of Ribero, 1520, and was, doubtless, discovered by Gomez, though not so 
named by him, as I have before suggested, and shall prove hereafter. 

After "Cabo de las Arenas," Oviedo mentions " Cabo de Santjago " 
(St. James Cape), thirty leagues north of it, and in 30° 30' N. ; then a 
" Bahia de San Christobal" (St. Christopher's Bay). It appears to me 
impossible to say, which of our bays and capes north of Cape Ilenlopen 
correspond to these names. 

Oviedo now proceeds to say: " The Rio de San Antonio is in 41° N. 
This river stands on the coast in a line directly from north to aonih. 
And whilst the coast runs north to the mouth of this river, it then 
begins to trend to the north-east, quarter east, for more than forty 
leagues." 

It is impossible to give a more accurate descrii^tion of Hudson River, 
which therefore I believe to be the S. Antonio of Oviedo. As Oviedo 
never mentions Verrazano, nor any of the names given by him, but often 
cites Gomez as his authority, I infer that the name " Rio de San Anto- 
nio " must have been derived from the account of Gomez. And this 
view is confirmed by Gomara, who gives to a chapter of his " Ilistoria 
de las Indias," in which he reports the expedition of Gomez, the title, 
" Rio de San Antonio," as if this river had been one of the most im- 
portant discoveries of Gomez.* 

•See this chapter in (jlomara, Ilistoria de las Indias, fol. xx. Saragossa, 1553. 



CHAET OF CHAVES, 1536. 311 

" From the Rio de S. Antonio the coast runs for about forty leagues 
north-east, quarter cast, to a certain point, which has on the west a 
river (que tiene de la parte del Ponente un rio), named 'Buena 
Madre ' ( tlie Good Mother) ; and on the other side, east of tlie point 
(delante de la punta) is the bay, whicli tliey call "St. Johan Baptista." 

This description agrees very nearly with the configuration of Long 
Island and the neighboring coast. Long Island is not much less 
than forty Spanish leagues long, and Oviedo's distances, as we have 
seen already, are always ample. Its southern coast trends exactly 
north-east, quarter east. The " certain point" at tlie end of this dis- 
tance may be our " Montauk Point;" the river " Buena Madre," west of 
this point, the entrance to Long Island Sound, and the " Bahia de 
San Johan Baptista," east of this point, our Narraganset Bay. The 
latitude of 41° 30' N. which Oviedo gives to that point, is nearly the 
true latitude of Montauk Point. 

" From the point of the bay of St. Johan" (Montauk), Oviedo proceeds 
to say, " the coast trends still north-east, a quarter east, for fifty 
leagues, as far as the " Cabo de Arecifes " (cape of the reefs), which cape 
stands in about 43° N. This ' Cape of the Reefs ' is the principal or 
um^we point of the Northern Archipelago (la ttfia punta del Ai-chipel- 
ago septentrional) ; from this cape over to the ' Cabo de Sta. Maria,' are 
twenty leagues. Between these two capes is an inlet or bay, full of 
islands, wliich they call, in modern times, ' Archipelago.' " 

From Montauk Point to Cape Cod is, after the manner of Oviedo's 
broad measurement, about fifty Spanish leagues ; and, so far as this 
point, the general outline of the coast may be said to trend north-east, 
quarter east. It seems to me, therefore, very probable, that this " Cabo 
de Arecifes " of Oviedo is our Cape Cod, which may well be called a 
'•unique point" on the coast, and which would be well named the 
" Reef Cape," as being surrounded by banks, and shoals, or reefs. 
Oviedo's latitude, 43° K, is only about half a degree two high. His 
" Cabo de Sta. Maria," which lies " twenty leagues from the ' Reef 
Cape,' " and also in 43° N., would then be our Cape Ann. It may justly 
be said, tliat across from Cape Cod to Cape Ann, tlie distance is 
" twenty leagues." The bay or inlet between those two capes, which is 
" full of islands," and " which they call, in modern times, the Archipel- 
ago," may be a section of the Gulf of Maine. Oviedo himself some- 
times names this Archipelago "Archipelago de la Tramontana," or 
" Archipelago Septentrional " * (the Northern Ai-chipelago). From the 
manner in which he mentions it again on page 150, where he calls it 
" a great gulf," he cannot mean by it any of our small bays ; for 

•Oviedo, 1. c. pp. 143, 146. 



312 CHART OF CHAVES, 1536. 

instance, "Saco" or " Casco Bay." He evidently intends to designate 
by this term, a large body of our waters, like the bay of Massachu- 
setts, or nearly the whole of the Gulf of Maine ; and hence, as has been 
already observed, it was probably to these waters that the Spanish 
name " Archipelago Tramontana," or " Septentrional," was applied. 
Oviedo gives vis to understand, that he or Chaves had this information 
and these names principally from the survey and report of Gomez, 
who, as he says, discovered all these coasts lying between 41° and 
40° 30' IST.* But his remarkable expression, " they call it in modem 
times," seems to imply, that Gomez was not his only Spanish authority 
for his knowledge of these coasts, but that something regarding them 
may have been known among the Spaniards from other navigators 
occasionally visiting them. 

Beyond the "Cape St. Mary" (Cape Ann) towards the east (a la 
parte oriental), comes " Cabo de muchas islas " (Cape of many islands) , 
thirty-five leagues distant; and twenty leagues from that is "Rio de 
las Gamas" (Deer River). '• The mouth of this river and its headlands 
lie in 43° 30' ]Sr., and thence the coast begins to trend more to the 
north-east." 

Though it is difficult to designate exactly the point to which the 
name " Cabo de muchas islas " is given by Oviedo, yet it appears not 
improbable, that Cape Elizabeth is intended, which is about the same 
distance (twenty leagues), as given by him from the broad opening of 
the Penobscot, and stands at the entrance of a bay filled with "many 
islands."t 

The latitude 43° 30' which Oviedo gives to " Deer River," differs only 
by half a degree from that of the entrance of the Penobscot, — the prin- 
cipal inlet or river on the coast of Maine. The " Rio de las Gamas " 
(Deer River) makes, on all the old Spanish maps of this region, a 
most prominent figure. It does not fall usually much short of the me- 
ridian of the Bermudas, which is about the true longitude of the Pe- 
nobscot. 

" Near the Rio de las Gamas," Oviedo says, " is the coast which they 

*I liave stated before, that Oviedo, in another place in his " Sominario " (see 
Ramusio, vol. 3. fol. 52, Venetia, 1556). says, that Gomez discovered a great tract of 
country as far down as about 40° and 41° N. 

t [If we follow the aufhoiity, not of Ribero only, but of all the maps copied in this 
work, in all of which (with the single exception of the pretended mapof Cabot of 1544), 
the " Cabo de muchas islas," wherever it is introduced, is placed at the very entrance 
of Penobscot 15ay, we must make it, as has been before intimated, one of the headlands 
in the neighborhood of Owl's Head. But the distances here given between Cape Ann 
and the Penobscot, place " Cabo de muchas islas " at an intermediate point, and con- 
firm the conjecture of Dr. Kohl, that Cape Elizabeth was intended by Oviedo.— Ed.] 



CIIAET OF CHAVES, 1536. 313 

call Medanos (the hillocks), and further on, is the Rio dc Montanas 
(the mountain river), which is fifty leagues from the Rio de las Gamas, 
and in 44° 15' N." 

After this, Oviedo mentions a "Rio de Castanar" (chestnut river); 
and "La Bahia de la Ensenada" (the bay of the inlet). "From this 
bay," says Oviedo, "the coast runs north, a quarter east (al Norte 
quarta del este), to that channel (Gut of Canso?), which separates the 
island of St. John (Cape Breton) from the main-land, for a hundred and 
twenty leagues east-south-east of Nova Scotia ; and here is situated 
Cabo Breton in 47° 30' N." The island of St. John, he says, is about a 
hundred and forty-five leagues in circumference, which is rather a large 
measurement for Cape Breton. 

Leaving Cape Breton, Oviedo gives a very short description of the 
Gulf of St. Lawrence, without assigning to it any name, and only ob- 
serving, that the particulars of these waters and coasts are not yet well 
known; and that the charts and the . cosmographers differ very much 
in their descriptions of them. " It is a wild and very cold country," he 
says, " and few are those who sail to it." * Thus neither Oviedo, nor 
his authority Chaves, appear to have been acquainted in 153G and 1537, 
with the French surveys of the St. Lawrence,, in 1534 and 1535, by 
Cartier. But he clearly and minutely describes the south coast of 
Newfoundland .t 

" At a point not far from Cape Breton," Oviedo says, in conclusion, 
" the chart of Chaves, of the year 153(3, comes to an end." For the 
remainder of the North American continent, he follows, in his descrip- 
tion, the old chart of Ribero of 1529. And he does this so accurately, 
that we can recognize and identify every point and name given by 
Ribero on the coast.t From which we may conclude, that the descrip- 
tion of our east coast, which he has drawn from Chaves, is not less 
accurate. 

We may sum up the examination of Oviedo, and his description of 
Chaves' map of 1536, as follows : 

Both the description and the map are much more correct, and more 
in accordance with the features of our coast, as represented on modern 
maps, than the map of Ribero of 1529. 

In regard to " Cabo de Arenas," they greatly differ : Ribero gives it a 
prominent position, in latitude 40° N., while Oviedo places it in lati- 

* Oviedo, 1. c. p. 148. 
t Oviedo, 1. c. p. 149. 
t Oviedo, 1. c. pp. 149, 150. 



ol4 CHART OF CHAVES, 1536. 

tude 39° 30', and gives it very little iirominence. By wliich it would 
appear, that this name was given by Gomez, whose authority both au- 
thors followed, to Cape Henlopen, or some headland in its vicinity. 

Oviedo and Chaves call Cape Cod "Cabo de Arecifes" (the reef- 
cape), which was probably the name originally given to it by Gomez, 
who cannot be supposed to have overlooked this extraordinary pro- 
jection. 

The following names, "Cabo de St. Jago," "Rio de S. Antonio," 
" Eio de Buena Madre," " Bahia de Juan Baptista," are placed by 
Oviedo and Chaves south-west of their Reef-cape. Their river " San 
Antonio," from Oviedo's description, and from what Gomara says, ap- 
pears to be the name given by Gomez to Hudson River. The other 
names are given to places on the southern coast of New England : — 
Montauk Point, Narraganset Bay, etc. 

On the north of his Reef-Cape, Oviedo describes a deep large bay, or 
Archipelago (Gulf of Maine); making Reef-cape (Cape Cod) a very 
])rominent headland, an " unique point," as Oviedo has it, on the coast. 

Ribero, on his map of 1529, has given to the above-named places the 
same latitude as Oviedo has done ; but, unlike Oviedo, puts them north 
of " Cabo de Arenas," along the shores of the semicircular gvilf, so 
similar to our Gulf of Maine. He has also a very prominent headland, 
" a unique point ; " but to this headland, looking so much like Cape 
Cod, he gives the name, not of " Reef-cape," like Oviedo, but of " Cabo 
de Arenas." 

From this it appears probable, that Ribero had before him a copy of 
Gomez's chart, which was either imperfect, or which he did not inter- 
pret correctly. He found in the chart of Gomez a good representation 
of the indented coast of Maine, bordered by innumerable islands ; and 
also of a prominent headland, veiy much like Cape Cod. But for some 
reason, he took this headland to be the "Cabo de los Arenas " of Gomez ; 
overlooking, or not having before him, the name " Reef-cape," the name 
by which this headland had really been designated by Gomez; and, 
having committed this error, he followed it out by placing north of 
this headland the names above mentioned, which had been placed by 
Gomez north of his Cabo de Arenas. These errors of Ribei-o were cor- 
rected by Chaves and Oviedo, who appear to have had the charts and 
descriptions of Gomez in a better and more complete copy. 

From all that has been said, it must aiipear to be a matter of deep 
regret, that the chart of Chaves has not come down to us. Nor does it 
appear to have been known to the geographers of the sixteenth cen- 
tury, who continued to represent our east coast according to the old 
map of Ribero, more or less inaccurately copied. The chart of Chaves 




^ T^ ^ "^ 



Fold-out 
Placeholder 



This fold-out is being digitized, and will be inserted at 

future date. 



^^ "" J^ 



r 



^ 



I— < 



i^ 




^ 1^ 1^ ^ 



o 

O 



Fold-out 
Placeholder 



This fold-out is being digitized, and will be insertec 

future date. j 



SKETCHES OP VAEIOUS CHARTS. 315 

Avas probably liiddcu away in some inaccessible arcliives; while copies 
of tlie map of Ribero were dispersed throughout the world ; the em- 
peror himself, by whose order they were composed, having aided in 
making them known. 

And although it would appear, that some subsequent geographers 
must have had some incidental knowledge of Chaves and Oviedo, from 
their giving now and then some name on their maps not found in 
liibero ; it was not, however, until 1852, when Oviedo's work was pub- 
lished by the Academy of Madrid, that his true and full description of 
the coast became generally known. 



3. Map, No. 17, Sketches 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, G, 7 of the East Coast of 
THE United States, by different Authoks of the Six- 
teenth Century. 

Under this head I will present a series of sketches of our east coast, 
to show how the materials furnished by Eibcro, Chaves, and Oviedo 
were used by subsequent map-makers. By this it will apijear, that in 
the northern portion of the coast of the pi-esent United States, a gulf is 
represented on all the majis of the time, similar to the Gulf of Maine, 
and south of it, a cape resembling Cape Cod. 

And first I will review the seven sketches copied on our sheet, and 
name the works from which they have been taken. I regret that, for 
want of space, I am unable to add the degrees of latitude given on the 
originals ; but in describing them I will mention, from the originals be- 
fore me, such as may appear necessary. 

No. 1 is taken from an interesting Spanish manuscript map in the 
possession of Mr. Henry Huth of Loudon, kindly allowed by this gen- 
tleman to be lithographed for me. I do not know the author of the map , 
nor the time of its composition. But as the Gulf of St. Lawrence, the isl- 
and of Auticosti, and the western side of Newfoundland, are quite cor- 
rectly drawn, it cannot have been made before the time of Cartier, who 
discovered these coasts in 1534. The mouth of the St. Lawrence is repre- 
sented, not as a river, but as a strait, with an indistinct ending, just as 
Cartier, in 1534, supposed it to be. The map was therefore made, prob- 
ably, in 1.534, or at least from materials furnished by Cartier in that 
year. Our copy gives the map only from " C. Hondo" (Cape Sable) 
near the Bay of Fundy, toward the west. 

The name of Gomez occurs twice on the map; first given to a cape 
or small inlet, next to the great inlet full of islands, which Ribero has 
depicted in the same manner, and which Chaves, Oviedo, and many 



316 SKETCHES OF VARIOUS CHARTS. 

others have called " Rio Gamas," the Penobscot Bay. It is called on 
this map " Rio de Gomez," which may, therefore, be considered as one 
of the names given by the Spaniards to this principal river of Maine. 
Gomez appears to have explored this bay somewhat minutely, and may 
have given it the name of Deer River ; but others may have preferred 
to name it after him, as being one of his principal discoveries. A cape 
west of the Penobscot Bay, on Ribero and Chaves, is called " Cabo de 
muchas islas," — one of the headlands near Owl's-head, or, following 
Oviedo, our Cape Elizabetli. 

South-west and south of this cape is delineated a gulf, filled with 
small islands, like the Gulf of Maine. This gulf at the south, in about 
49° N., is terminated on our map by a prominent and pointed cape 
without a name, resembling Cape Cod. The rest of the coast as far 
down as Florida is also without names. 

"No. 2 is taken from an interesting manuscript chart, likewise obtain- 
ed from the collection of Mr. Huth. I do not know the author ; but as 
the river St. Lawrence, and all the discoveries made by Cartier, 15.30 to 
1.542, are accurately represented, it must have been drawn later than 
No. 1, probably soon after 1542. 

Our sketch gives the coast only from " Rio Fundo" (Bay of Fundy) 
westward. The configuration of the coast, which for us is the princi- 
pal point, is accurately delineated on the coJ)y as in the original, al- 
though I have not retained all the names. 

" Rio de Gamas " is drawn in the same manner and position as on 
the former chart, and as on that of Ribero, and here as there unques- 
tionably represents the Penobscot. From this a gulf filled with isl- 
ands trends to the south-west, which in about 40° N. is ended by a 
large and prominent peninsula, the northern cape or point of which is 
called " C. de las Arenas." 

No. .3 is also obtained from a manuscript map of Mr. Huth. A copy 
precisely like it exists in Germany in the archives of the Duke of 
Coburg-Gotha. There it has the inscription : " Baptista Agnese fecit^ 
Venetiis, 1.543, die 18 febr." (Baptista Agnese made it, Venice, 1543, on 
the ISth February). The map, like Nos. 1 and 2, is evidently made from 
the map of Ribero, and not from that of Chaves and Oviedo. Though 
it is a very rough sketch, still it preserves the great semicircular gulf in 
" the country which Estevan Gomez discovered." The gulf is termin- 
ated at the south, as on the former maps, by a prominent cape, here 
called " Cabo de Santa Maria ; " a name which Oviedo places north of 
Cape Cod, intending, I suppose, to designate Cape Ann. The names 



SKETCHES OF VARIOUS CHARTS. 317 

" b. de S. Antonio" (Hudson River), "Kio de bucna madre," etc., are 
put, as by Ilibero, nortli of the " prominent cape." 

No. 4 is from a printed map made by " Nicollo del Dolfinato, cos- 
mographer of his most Christian Majesty," and is annexed to tlie work 
" Navigation! del mondo nuovo " (Navigations of the new world), pub- 
lished in Venice in the year 1560. 

It is a very rough sketch, but has clearly marked upon it a deep semi- 
circular gulf south of " Tierra de los Bretones" (Nova Scotia). Tlie 
names " S. Antonio " and " S. Christofolo " show, that the same gulf is 
meant, which Rlbero has placed in this part of the coast. It is cut off 
in the south by the same prominent cape, extending far eastward, and 
called " C. de S. Maria." 

No. 5 is a sketch in exact imitation of the features of the east coast 
of North America, as drawn in the atlas of Gerard Mei-cator, published 
by J. Hondius in 1619. Though the atlas bears this late date, the map 
itself originated at a much earlier period. It is well known that Hon- 
dius, a map-maker and map-seller, procured all the old plates of Mer- 
cator, who died in the year 1595, and reprinted them repeatedly with- 
out impi'oving them. The map may be ascribed to about the year 1590. 
It designates the land discovered by Gomez as " Norumbega," and has 
along its coasts all the old Spanish names first given by Gomez, and 
found on the map of Ribero, and in the same order in which Ribero 
has written them. 

The semicircular gulf formed by the coast of " Norumbega" is drawn 
much deeper than usual; and trending to the south as far down as 
about 39° N., there ends in a very prominent and broad peninsula, 
the northern point of which is called " C. de las Arenas." To Norum- 
bega (Northern Virginia, New England) are given none but Spanish 
names, while south of" C. de las Arenas "in Southern Virginia, some 
English names appear, introduced by the expeditions made under Sir 
"Walter Raleigh in 15S4 and following years. 

No. 6 is a sketch taken from the " Novus Atlas," published by Wil- 
liam and John Blaeu, 2d vol. Amsterdam, 1042. Though published at 
so late a date, the plate must have been engraved much earlier. It con- 
tains on the coast of Nova Scotia only the Bay of Fundy, and along the 
coast of Maine as far down as " Rio de Quenbequin" (Kennebec) a few 
indications of the discoveries made by the French under De Monts, at 
the beginning of the seventeenth century. South of the Kennebec, the 
old Spanish names of Ribero are retained. Along the region of the coast 



318 SKETCHES OF VARIOUS CHARTS. 

of Maine, the name " Norumbega " is written ; and liere we see again a 
large gulf with a prominent cape in the south, called " C. de las Are- 
nas," in about 39° 30' X. 

No. 7 is a copy of a delineation of our east coast, taken from a map 
of America, contained in the " Atlas minor Gerardi Mevcatoris," pub- 
lished by Hondius in the year 1G07. It gives to the coast about the 
same delineation as sketch No. 5, only in a manner somewhat more 
rude. 

Each of these sketches will serve as an example of many others. The 
same things were copied and pubHshed over and over again, during 
the whole course of the sixteenth century. I might have given a great 
many more copies ; but they would only repeat the same or similar 
delineations and names. 

The results of an examination of these sketches, and a comparison 
of them with each other, and with the maps of Ribero and Chaves, and 
with the description of Oviedo, may be given as follows : 

All the maps exhibit, in the northern region, a semicircular gulf, va- 
rying in its depth, which in its latitude and its configuration resembles 
the Gulf of Maine. 

They all have a very prominent headland south of this gulf, and in 
the latitude of about 40° N. ; where indeed no prominent headland ex- 
ists, but where, on the contrary, we lind the deei^ Gulf of New York 
receding far to the west; while a little more to the north, such a 
prominent headland, Cape Cod, is actually found. 

To this prominent headland nearly all the sketches, agreeing with 
Ribero, give the name of " Cabo de Arenas ; ■' while this name, accord- 
ing to Oviedo, originally belonged to a cape not at all prominent on 
the inner part of the Gulf of New York. 

All these charts have consequently perpetuated the error of Ribero, 
in placing this " Cabo de Arenas,'' meaning by it Cape Cod, not in 42° N. 
where it actually is, but in 40° or even 39° N. Some of them have given 
it the name " Cabo de S. Maria," though this name is given by Chaves 
and Oviedo to a more northern cape, probably meaning by it Cape 
Ann. 

As the east coast of the United States, during the sixteenth centu- 
ry, was visited by many other navigators after Gomez, some additional 
knowledge, or confirmation of what was previously known, may have 
reached our map-makers from these sources. These navigators no 
doubt cari-ied home some report about a certain prominent headland 
existing in the neighborhood of 40° N., or somewhat further in that di- 



SKETCHES OF VARIOUS CHARTS. 319 

rection. Jf one of them could have failed to 'observe this conspicuous 
point, as they might easily have overlooked that in the Gulf of New 
York. By these reports the map-makers were confirmed in holding 
and transmitting the traditionary error, of identifying the Cabo de 
Arenas with this piomincnt cape. 

Most of these navigators, like Verrazano in 1.524, and Hawkins in 
156.5, sailed along the coast from south to north with the Gulf-stream. 
And having been borne by the Gulf-stream further north than by their 
reckoning they would take themselves to be ; in short, having uncon- 
sciously arrived at 42° N. when they thought themselves to be only at 
40°, and having observed a great headland lying in the latitude to 
which they had arrived, they might naturally have taken it to be a 
headland belonging to the latitude in which they supposed themselves to 
be, and have given it the name " Cabo de Arenas," which had been ap- 
propriated by Chaves to the more southern headland, instead of the 
proper name, which had been given to it by Gomez, of Cabo de Arecifes. 
This is exactly what api^ears to have been done by Ribero, who, as has 
been before suggested, drew Cape Cod quite correctly, but gave to it a 
wrong name ; and then quite consistently with that error, placed north 
of it, along the coast of the Gulf of Maine, some names, particularly the 
Rio de San Antonio, which had before been correctly placed along the 
Gulf of New York, north of Cape Heulopen or Sandy Hook, the " Cabo 
de Arenas," of Chaves. 



CHAPTER IX. 

FREN'CH EXPEDITION'S TO CANADA, IN 153i-1543; AND HORE'S 
VOYAGE, 1536. 



1. First Voyage of Jacques Cartier to the Gulp and 
River op St. Lawrence, in 1534. 

Some sections of the Gulf and River St. Lawrence, the 
exploration of which was so intimately connected with that of 
our State, had been visited and become known long before 
the year 1534. 

The Portuguese and French fishermen, from the year 
1504, no doubt repeatedly entered the gulf and perhaps gave 
it the first name it received of " Golfo Quadrado " * (the 
square gulf), or "the great bay." Denys in 1506, and 
Aubert in 1508, — early French commanders of fishing expe- 
ditions, — are said to have even made maps of this gulf. 

The great Spanish, French, and English official explorers, — 
Gomez in 1524, Verrazano in 1525, and Rut in 1527, — no 
doubt observed the entrance of the gulf, but probably did not 
enter it, by reason of information from the fishermen, that it 
was an interior basin of water, surrounded by land. 

The reports and charts of the regions north of Maine and 
west of Newfoundland, which the French and Portuguese 
are said to liave committed to })aper, are nearly all lost. 
Coming from private persons, and scattered through many 

*This name is nientioiied in Goniara, Historia de las Indias, vol. 20. 
Saragossa, 1553. 



FEENCH EXPEDITIONS TO CANADA. 821 

little seaports and towns, they would not be generally known 
to geographers and cosmographers. We possess, however, 
one old chart, which preserves and represents the information 
concerning those regions gathered during the first quarter of 
the sixteenth century; namely, the chart of Gastaldi, of which 
I liavo given a copy in No. 11 ; but even this chart, though 
based probably on very early explorations, was not published 
before the middle of the century. Another chart of the Gulf 
of St. Lawrence, made before Cartier, I will give in the Ap- 
pendage to this chapter. No. 18 a. 

Probably the fishermen and their employers did not fiivor 
the diffusion of knowledge respecting their " Terre neuve." 
They, no doubt, like the governments of that time, had their 
secrets, and did not like to have others intermeddle with 
them. They wished to traffic with the Indians for furs, and 
to dry their cod-fish at the accustomed stations, according to 
old usage. They would have made, if they could, a mare 
clamiim of thfe " Square Gulf," — this prolific habitat of the 
walrus, the seal, and fish of various sorts. They would 
gladly have excluded even such of their own countrymen 
as did not belong to their fishing corporations, from sharing 
their knowledge and using their charts of these regions ;.just 
as the kings of Spain and Portugal forbade the communica- 
tion of their charts to foreigners. We observe this reserva- 
tion of the French fishing interest in every exploring expe- 
dition not their own, and the hostility of this interest toward 
nearly every great undertaking ordered by the kings of 
France. All the subsequent great French explorers, Cartier, 
De Monts, Champlain, and others, had to contend with 
this fishing interest, which threw all possible obstacles and 
troubles in their way. We may, therefore, ascribe to this 
cause, in part, the deficiency of old reports and charts of this 
region. 

21 



322 FRENCH EXPEDITIONS TO CANADA. 

The first official exploring expeditions, wliicli changed this 
state of things, and which were particularly directed to the 
waters of the St. Lawrence and tlie north of Maine, Avere 
those of Cartier, Roberval, and their companions under the 
French flag. During the course of their operations, continued 
for about ten years, tliej settled nearly all the principal geo- 
graphical questions connected with this gulf, and the lower 
part of the liiver St. Lawrence; determined the shape of the 
coasts, the course and bendings of the river ; gave names to 
the important bays, harbors, capes, and remarkable points ; 
and constructed very accurate charts of them, which were 
soon afterwards copied in France and other countries. 

The River St. Lawrence, including its gulf, lying west, 
north, and east of Maine, has been and still is to her inhabi- 
tants an object of considerable commercial importance. It 
was always a great highroad for the Indian tribes of ]\Iaine. 
At a later time, it served as the basis for many French ex- 
ploring, commercial, military, and missionary expeditions to 
and through the territory of Maine, and is to-day an impor- 
tant outlet for the northern frontier of this State. The first 
effectual explorations of this river by the French must, there- 
fore, be regarded as strictly pertinent to the history of the 
discovery of our State. But since it will be impossible for 
me to examine and discuss all the points and questions con- 
nected with the operations of the French in this region, I 
shall here confine myself to such only as may appear most 
applicable to our position. 

Jacques Cartier was a native of St. Malo, a principal port 
of Brittany. He was born there in 1494, two years after the 
first voyage of Columbus to the new world. Like many of 
his townsmen, he was familiar with the ocean from his child - 
hood, and accompanied, perhaps conducted, fishing exped 
tions to the Great Baidv. On these occasions he may have 



FRENCH EXPEDITIONS TO CANADA. 323 

seen or heard something of the inviting regions lying west, 
and in the rear of these fishing-grounds,* and may have con- 
ceived tlie j)lan of exploring them more thoroughly in the 
interest of France. 

With this view, in 1533, he addressed a letter to Philippe 
de Chabot, seigneur de Brion, admiral of France, proposing 
a voyage in the name and at the cost of the king, to continue 
the discoveries commenced in 1524 by Jean Verrazano. 

Francis I. was then — soon after the treaty of Cambray, 
which gave him Burgundy and peace with Spain — in a situa- 
tion favorable to such an expedition. He agreed to the prop- 
osition of his admiral and his captain of St. Malo. Two 
vessels were fitted out with all necessaries for an exploring 
voyage, armed and manned with a hundred and twenty per- 
sons, and put under the command of Cartier, and left the 
port of St. Malo on the 20th of April, 1534.t 

Like Cortereal and many others, he directed his course to 
the east coast of Newfoundland ; and having most favorable 
weather, after a sail of three weeks he arrived there on the 
10th of May, near Cape Buonavista, one of the most eastern 
headlands of Newfoundland, and usually the " Prima vista " 
of European discoverers sailing to these regions, and not far 
from the land-fall of Cortereal in 1500. 

*In the first royal commission given to him is the following: "Nous 
vous avons commis ii la navigation des terres par vous ja commencees a 
decouvrir." 

t We liave a report of this voyage, written probably by Cartier himself, 
or by one of his companions, and preserved to us in an Italian translation 
by Ramusio, in his 3d vol., fol. 435 seq. Venice, 1550. This was, for a long 
time, the only authority for Cartier's voyage. Of late, the French think 
they have discovered in their archives the original report, written by 
Cartier himself in French ; and they have published it under the title 
" Relation originale du voyage de Jacques Cartier au Canada en 1534, etc." 
Paris, 1867. But it does not add much to the knowledge drawn from 
Ramusio. 



324 FRENCH EXPEDITIONS TO CANADA. 

From this cape, Cartier, like Cortcreal, directed his course 
to the north, and was much obstructed by great masses of ice. 
Why he did not go at once to the south-west, to the broad 
entrance of the St. Lawrence, where he would have escaped 
the ice, we do not learn. From some allusion in his last 
report we infer, — what yet appears extraordinary, — that at 
this time he was still unacquainted with the southern broad 
entrance to the gulf. 

On the 27th of May, he arrived at the gulf of the Castles 
(Golfe des chateaux), the present Strait of Belle Isle. He 
found this so full of ice, that he was not able to continue his 
voyage until the 9th of June. Taking an observation of lati- 
tude, he found his harbor near the mouth of the strait to be 
in 51° N., which is nearly correct. 

Enterino- the Strait of Belle Isle, he ranged alono- the 
south coast of Labrador, occasionally planting names there in 
remembrance of some places of Brittany, or in commemora- 
tion of the events of his voyage ; as for instance : " Isle de St. 
Catherine," at the entrance of the strait, so named from 
one of his vessels; "Brest," from the well-known port in 
Brittany, which name the French also carried to the coast of 
Brazil ; " Saint Servan," from a British saint ; " Riviere 
Cartier," from the commander's name. All these names are 
found on old maps, but are now forgotten. 

Not far from the "Port of Brest," he met a French ship 
of Rochelle, occupied in fishing ; a proof of what has been 
stated above, that the French fishermen were accustomed to 
enter the Gulf of St. Lawrence before the time of Cartier. 
He found also some aborigines employed in fishing, who were 
"well built, of good figure, and tall in stature." They told 
him that they did not live in that region, but in a warmer 
country, and that they came now and then to these northern 
shores to catch fish and obtain food. This northern coast 



FRENCH EXPEDITIONS TO CANADA. 325 

appeared to Cartier so disagreeable, unproductive, and barren, 
that he tliought " it ought to be the country wliich God had 
given to Cain," and resolved to leave it, and cross to the 
other side of the Strait of Belle Isle, which had here become 
very broad. 

After a sail of twenty leagues from Brest, not far from the 
present Checatica Bay, he touched a cape which, from its 
appearance, he named " Cap Double," the present " Point 
Rich," on the west side of Newfoundland. From this point 
ho sailed alono- the coast of the great island, in a south- 
south-west direction, having sometimes fine weather, and 
sometimes contrary winds and fogs ; so that often he could 
see nothing of the coast. On the 24th of June he arrived at 
a very prominent cape, which, in honor of the Saint of the 
day, he named " Cape de St. Jean " (St. John's Cape), the 
present " Cape Anguille," the most southern point of the 
west coast of Newfoundland. This is the first time that we 
have any account of a navigator having been on the west 
coast of Newfoundland. This part of the coast had been 
neglected by former discoverers, and left unrepresented on 
their maps. 

From Cape Anguille, leaving Cape Breton and the great 
entrance of the gulf on the south, he sailed westward and 
discovered three small rocky islets, which were covered with 
large flocks of birds " as innumerable as the flowers on a 
meadow," and therefore were named " Isles aux margaulx." 
They are still well known to all mariners entering the gulf, 
under the name of ^' Bird Rocks." 

West of these Bird Rocks there was another island, about 
two leagvies long, and one league broad ; 'which, according to 
this description, must have been the present "Byron Island; " 
and tlien another, which was large, full of beautiful trees, 
woods, pleasant meadows covered with spring flowers, and 



326 FRENCH EXPEDITIONS TO CANADA. 

having large fertile tracts of land, interspersed with great 
swamps. Along its shores were many sea-monsters with two 
large tnsks in the mouth, like elephants ; and the forests 
were thronged with bears and wolves. This island was four 
leagues from the continent, and was named in honor of the 
admiral of France, who had favored this expedition, " Isle de 
Brion." According to this description, " Brion's Island " 
must be our large " Prince Edward Island," though the 
name " Isle de Brion," on some old maps, is given to a small 
islet, which we now call " Byron Island." 

Regarding this Brion's Island, Cartier makes the following 
remark: "According to what I understand," he says, "I 
must think that there is some passage between the island of 
Brion and Newfoundland ; and if this passage should be 
found navigable, it would shorten the voyage a great deal." 
From this remark it would appear, that in 1534 Cartier was 
not acquainted with the broad passage by which the Gulf 
of St. Lawrence is now commonly entered. 

Cartier sailed along the north coast of Isle de Brion, 
giving now and then a name to some cape or island ; for 
instance, "Cap d'Orleans" and "Isle Alezay," names which 
are still found on old maps, and which appear to have been 
placed near the "North Point" of Prince Edward Island. 
Thence he went over to the continent, entering a bay, which, 
from the great number of canoes filled with Indians which 
he saw there, he named " la baye des Barques ; " and another 
triangular gulf, in 47° N., which he named " the Gulf of 
Santo Lunario" (the present Miramichi Bay). " He hoped 
here to find a passage like the strait of the Chateaux " 
(Belle Isle), and therefore named one of the capes of the bay, 
" the Cape of Hope." All the country round was covered 
with thick forests and green meadows. 

In the same hope " of finding a passage," Cartier entered 



FRENCH EXPEDITIONS TO CANADA. 327 

another deep inlet on the north. Pie sailed into it for more 
tlian twenty-five leagues, found it to be a beautiful bay and 
country, but discovered no opening in the west. As it was 
now early in the month of July, he suffered much from 
heat ; thought the region to be hotter than Spain ; and there- 
fore called it "La Baye des Chaleurs " (the bay of heat), a 
name which has remained to the present time. 

Having convinced himself that this inlet was land-locked, 
he left it, sailing along the coast of the great peninsula, which 
afterwards was called "la Gaspesie," to the north-east and 
north, and arrived at another opening, where he searched in 
vain to find a passage, and which afterwards was called 
"Gaspd Bay." Here he was detained for some time by bad 
weather and contrary winds, and was at leisure to deal with 
the Indians of the place, who assembled in great numbers 
around his vessels. Here, also, quite near to the mouth of 
the great river of Canada, he formally, in the name of his 
king, took possession of the country, erecting on a prominent 
headland a large cross, with the inscription " Vive le Roy de 
France," which, in presence of the assembled aborigines, he 
consecrated and venerated, making the ceremony as solemn 
and imposing as possible. 

On the 25tli of July, "having a great wind," he left 
Gasp^ Bay, taking two Indians with him, and sailed toward 
the north-east, He was now in the midst of that broad chan- 
nel between the island of Anticosti and the peninsula of 
Gaspesie, whicli shows open water at the west and east, and 
which forms the principal entrance of the great river St, 
Lawrence. One would think, at the present time, that 
Carticr would readily have discovered this wide channel, and 
would have sailed at once to the west, where lay before him 
the open passage, for which he had searched in vain every 
little bay on the coast of New Brunswick. But to our aston- 



328 FRENCH EXPEDITIONS TO CANADA. 

ishment lie failed to do this ; and, sighting the island of Anti- 
costi, directed his course northerly to it, and sailed along its 
coast in an easterl}^ direction. Why he did so does not ap- 
pear from his journal, nor is any reason given for his course ; 
though it is easy to conjecture, that the open west was cov- 
ered with fogs, or that he was driven eastward by stress of 
weather. He soon reached the eastern end of the island, 
which, from the Saint of tlie day, he called " Cap de St. 
Alovise," now "East Point;" observing at the same time 
that it stood in 49° 30' N. He rounded it, and proceeded 
along the north coast of Anticosti, " sailing in a north-western 
direction." He extended his voyage to 50° N., and came in 
sight of the south coast of Labrador, where he perceived that 
the channel between the two coasts became more narrow. 
He went over to the northern side, and again to the southern, 
to see whether it was a channel or a gnlf. Though he had con- 
trary winds, great waves, currents, and a high tide against him, 
and though he was in the narrowest place of the strait, among 
dangerous rocks (probably the so-called Mingan Islands), still 
he succeeded in advancing so far westward, that he could see 
the country (Anticosti) turn and fall off to the south-west. 
Here he must have observed, Avhat he was so eager to find, 
open water to the west. But now his nien and his means 
were exhausted. He saw the beginning of a great, pro- 
tracted, and perhaps difficult undertaking, the introduction to 
a series of discoveries. The season was already far advanced 
ior these northern regions ; for it was in the month of August. 
So he assembled a council of all his officers, masters, and 
pilots, and it was concluded to return to France, to obtain a 
new outfit for another attempt. 

Cartier called the narrow strait which terminated this 
voyage, "le detroit de St. Pierre" (St. Peter's channel). 
He had sounded it in many places, and found it to be very 



CARTIER'S SECOND VOYAGE, 1535. 329 

dee]), sixty, a liiindred, and even a hundred and fifty fathoms ; 
and tlierefore, perliaps, he supposed it to be, not a river's 
mouth, but a sea-channel, a passage from the Atlantic to 
the Avestern sea of Verrazano. Nowhere in his journal 
does he say that he expected to find, or that he had as yet 
heard, of a great river. He always declares his desire to 
find a passage to the west. 

On his homeward voyage he sailed at first along the south- 
ern coast of Labrador, toward the Strait of Belle Isle, which 
he had entered in May. On the Labrador coast, he touched 
at a place which he named " Cap Tiennot" (or Tidno), a 
very prominent headland, afterwards often mentioned, and 
now called Cape Montjoli. And, after a quick and prosperous 
passage over the ocean, he arrived at St. Malo on the 5th of 
September of the same year. 

2. Secoxd Voyage or Jacques Caktier to the Gulf and 
River of St. Lawrence, in 1535. 

The report of Cartier, made soon after his return, to the 
admiral and the king, of the fine-looking coasts, and a strait 
promising to lead to new regions in the west, was very favor- 
ably received. And on the 30th of October, 1534, the ad- 
miral gave him, in the name of the king, a new commission, 
by wliicli were placed under his command three well-equip- 
ped vessels, victualled for fifteen months for a new voyage to 
the north-west, " to complete the discovery beyond the New- 
foundlands, already commenced" (la navigation ja commencee 
a descouvrir oultre les Terres Neufves). 

Having everything in readiness, and having received the 
benediction of the bishop of St. Malo, Cartier left this port 
on the 19th of May, 1535, Avith his three ships.* He took 

♦The re]iort of this second voyage of Cartier is preserved in an Italian 
translation by Ramusio, iu his third volume, folio 441, Veuetia, 155G. The 



330 CARTIEirS SECOND VOYAGE, 1535. 

with liim many expert pilots and sailors of St. Malo, and 
several enterprising gentlemen and noblemen of Brittany, all 
luider his command. In crossing the ocean this time he had 
much bad Aveather, and arrived late, July 7th, on the east 
coast of Newfoundland. 

He entered the Gulf of St. Lawrence, as on his first voy- 
age, through the Strait of Belle Isle, and coasting along the 
southern part of Labrador, he arrived early in August, at 
that strait, which he had before called " St. Peter's chan- 
nel " (the present Canadian channel), not far east of the 
termination of his former voyage. On the lOtli of Au- 
gust, the day of Saint Lawrence, he entered a little port 
on the northern shore, to which he gave the name " Bay 
of St. Lawrence." This name has disappeared from that 
place, which is now called " St. John's river," and was after- 
wards applied, we cannot say how or when, to the whole great 
river of Canada, at the mouth of which this little bay was 
situated. This extension of the name " St. Lawrence," must 
soon have been introduced and become general ; for the 
Spanish historian, Gomara, in his work published in 1553, 
apjdies the name " San Loren^-o " to the entire river and 
gulf. 

At the Bay of St. Lawrence, Cartier, seeing unknown 
waters before him, examined the two Indians whom he had 
taken at Gaspti Bay on his first voyage, and cai-ried to France. 
They told him, that the water to the west was only the 
moutli of a large river, which, by degrees, grew more and 

French original of this rei)orti had pi-cvionsly been printed in France 
in 1545. But .so little attention had been paid to this interesting publica- 
tion, that the whole edition was soon dispersed and lost, and there remains 
but one co]iy, which is preserved in the British Museum. In 18G4, the li- 
brarian Tross, in Paris, published a new edition of the French origiual of 
this report, under the direction of, and with an introduction by, the distin- 
guished French geographer, M. D'Avezac. 



I 



CAETIER'S SECOND VOYAGE, 1535. 331 

more narrow, and was called "the river of Hochelaga;"^ 
that at a place called " Canada," it was very narrow, with 
water quite pure ; and that at a greater distance, only small 
boats could pass on it, Cartier appears not to have cared so 
much for a fresh-water river, as for a salt-water channel, and 
he therefore went first over to the southern coast, called by 
the Indians " Honguedo," afterwards named " la Gasp<isie," 
to find a passage, but seeing none, he returned to Port St. 
Lawrence, searching carefully the northern coast, in hope of 
finding a north-west passage there. He had seen in St. 
Peter's channel a great number of whales ; and thus was 
confirmed in his opinion, that there must be, somewhere in 
that direction, a hidden salt-water passage from one ocean to 
the other. 

Having found no passage, he shaped his course west and 
south-west directly into the mouth of that inlet, which the 
Indians called a fresh-Avater river. Having now ascertained 
that the country which the Indians called "Natiscotec" was 
a large island, he gave to it the name " I'islc de I'assomption " 
(Assumption Island), which has been since changed to the 
original Indian name "Natiscotec;" by Europeans pro- 
nounced and written, with a transposition of its letters, Anti- 
costi. 

The first remarkable object which Cartier discovered in 
sailing along the northern shore of the great river of Hoche- 
laga, was the mouth of another river, coming down from 
a country west-north-west, of which the two Indians had spok- 
en to him, under the name of " the river and country of Sague- 
nay." Cartier explored the mouth of this river, and, sounding, 
found it extremely deep, " more than a hundred fathoms." 
This observation afterwards gave rise to the opinion enter- 
tained for a long time by many geographers, that this " Sague- 
nay " was not a river, but a passage conducting to a northern 



332 CARTIER'S SECOND VOYAGE, 1535. 

sea. The remarkable and beautiful river Saguenay has pre- 
served its ancient and original name to the present day. 

At some distance south-west of the Saguenay, Cartier came 
to an island, which he named " Isle aux Coudres " (Hazel 
Island), which still retains this name; and at a further dis- 
tance, another larger island, extremely pleasant, covered with 
fine woods of all sorts, and abundance of vines. From this 
circumstance Cartier called this island " Isle de Bacchus," 
which name was afterwards changed by him to " Isle d'Or- 
l^ans." " Near this island the country of Canada begins." 

From these last-named islands, the north-western bound- 
ary line of the State of Maine is only about ten leagues dis- 
tant, and Cartier may have seen, on this part of his sail, from 
some elevation near the shore, some of its blue hills in the 
southern horizon ; and if so, it was the first instance in which 
this State had been seen from the interior by any European. 

The principal events and transactions of this voyage oc- 
curred in the vicinity of the Isle of Bacchus, where the St. 
Lawrence, from a broad estuary, contracts its channel to a 
river, near the locality where afterwards was founded Que- 
bec, the capital of New France, — that critical position, in 
which the fate of the country was afterwards so often de- 
cided. Cartier found in this important geographical position 
a village " Stadacone," the residence of a powerful Indian 
chief, Donnacona, who made earnest efforts to dissuade him 
from ascending the river any further, saying, that he would 
find nothing there worth his while, and that the navigation 
was very dangerous. Cartier took no notice of these objec- 
tions, which were accompanied by threats and other marks of 
ill will. He astonished and silenced his Indian friends with 
the thunder of his cannon ; and putting the two largest 
vessels of his fleet in a safe harbor near Bacchiis Island, 
called by him the Port of the Holy Cross, began to ascend 



CARTIER'S SECOND VOYAGE, 1533. 333 

tlie river with the smallest of his ships, " rEmerillon," wliicli 
had been purposely prepared in France for navigating in shoal 
water. He took with him all his young gentlemen, and fifty 
mariners, and, on the 19th of September, left behind his har- 
bor and his two ships. 

He ascended this splendid river, admiring its mao-nificent 
scenery, its broad deep channel of clear water, the elevated 
banks on both sides, covered with gracefully grouped trees of 
various sorts, richly embelHshed everywhere with vines, and 
enlivened by beautiful birds. Here and there he found a vil- 
lage or fishing-station of Indians, who were all very peaceful, 
and saluted the party with eloquent speeches. On the 28th 
of September he arrived at a lake where the Avater became so 
shallow, that they were obliged to leave their ship safely an- 
chored in port. 

Cartier then in two small boats crossed the lake, called by 
him " lac d'Angouleme " (now St. Peter's Lake), and' ar- 
rived on the lOth'of October at the Indian village of " IIo- 
chelaga," of which his two Indians had spoken so highly. He 
found this place well peopled with Indians, with whom he 
held daily friendly intercourse by speeches and festivals. 
Hochelaga, the residence of an Indian chief, was pleasantly 
situated at the foot of a mountain at some distance from the 
river. Cartier with his party ascended this mountain, and 
enjoyed the beautiful view of the surrounding country, spread 
out widely before them. He discovered distant mountain 
ranges, north and south ; saw his great river running far to 
the west, and observed the rapids near by, Avhich seemed to 
put an end, at this point, to further navigation. 

Thinking that " Hochelaga " was the most convenient place 
for the capital of the French province to be established, he 
gave to it the Christian name, "Mount Royal." Thus Car- 
tier had now discovered and designated, and held under his 



334 CAETIEE'S SECOND VOYAGE, 1535. 

command, the three principal £i;coo;raphical positions of Cana- 
da, Quebec, Montreal, and the central locality of St. Peter's 
Lake. But as now the favorable season was coming to an 
end, he resolved to return, collect all his scattered forces, and 
put them safely into winter-quarters. 

He arrived, with his company in the ship TEmerillon, early 
in November at his harbor of the " Holy Cross," where his two 
large vessels lay at anchor. During his absence, his mari- 
ners and soldiers had built a fort and sheds. Here he passed 
the Avinter of 1535-6 in the midst of ice and snow ; much 
troubled and distressed by a sickness among his crew, proba- 
blv the scurvy, which carried off twenty-five of his men. 
He would have lost still more if the friendly Indians had 
not checked the disease, by preparing for the sick a won- 
derfully wholesome remedy, a decoction from the leaves and 
bark of a certain medicinal tree (ameda), with the virtues and 
uses of Avhich they were familiar. This was the first time 
that history had witnessed a modern European explorer win- 
tering in these northern regions of America. 

These friendly Indians were a great comfort to Cartier and 
his men ; and, always having amicable intercourse with them, 
he gained from their conversation much valuable information 
about tlie nature of the surrounding regions and their rela- 
tive position. " They informed him that from the place 
where he had left his ship in going to Hochelaga, " there is a 
river that goeth toward tlie south-west," — our present Riche- 
lieu, — (y a vne riuere ([ va vers le Surouaist),* a country in 
which snow and ice never appeared, and where many delicate 
southern fruits were found; but in which the inhabitants 
were continually at war among themselves. They referred, 
no doubt, to the line of navigation formed by Lake Charaplain 

*Bref Recit dc la Navigation faite par J. Cartier, p. 31. Paris, Librarie 
Tros.s, 1863. 



CAETIER'S SECOND VOYAGE, 1535. 335 

and Hudson River, and to tlie country of the warlike Five 
Nations. Cartier " thouslit that this was the way to Florida." 

But the Indians spoke in still higher terms of the " coun- 
try of Saguenay," of which they gave a very extraordinary 
report. They said, that though the river of Saguenay had 
its origin in this country, and derived its name from it, yet 
the best and most direct way to it Avas by the great river 
Hochelaga, and then by another confluent river, which also 
had its origin in the country of Saguenay. This undoubt- 
edly referred to the Ottawa River. There, they said, were 
three large lakes, and also a sea of fresh-water of which no 
person had ever seen the end. Many wealthy nations were 
settled there, of a white color, clothed like the French, and 
possessing gold and copper. What Cartier thought of this 
report he does not state. He probably supposed that these 
lakes were the sea of Verrazano, and these nations, some of the 
cultivated nations of Eastern Asia. Is it possible that these 
Indians of Canada had heard of the Spaniards, who, some 
years previous, under Narvacz and Cabeca de Vacca, had 
been on the Lower Mississippi ? 

Those of Canada said also " that it Avas from Hochelaga 
(Montreal), a navigation of one month, to a country Avhere 
they gathered cinnamon and cloves " (cinamomo ed il garo- 
fano).* Some stories, told by the old Indians, of men in 
distant lands with only one leg, and of others who did not 
eat, Cartier, of course, regarded as idle fables. 

AVith respect to the neighboring territory of the State of 
Maine, and other parts of New England, we find no particu- 
lar information or allusion in (;!artier's report. He repre- 
sents, however, his friend Donnacona, the chief of " Canada " 
or "Stadacona" (Quebec), as a great king, and speaks of all 
the Indian tribes as far down as the Saguenay and beyond, 

* See notice of Cartier's voyage in Ramusio, vol. 3, fol. 453. 



336 CARTIER'S SECOND VOYAGE, 1535. . 

as his subjects. It is therefore possible that the native inhab- 
itants of the northern part of Maine may have been under 
his government, and that among the numerous Indians, who 
gathered at Cartier's winter station near Quebec, there were 
Indians from tlie forests of Maine, by whom, on their return, 
the news of the French and their presents would be spread 
from one settlement to another. 

Donnacona, this powerful and hospitable chief, and some of 
liis subjects, were seized by Cartier in a treacherous mannei', 
and kept on board his ship ; as he was desirous of having some 
principal person of the new country to present to his king. 
He quieted the chief's alarmed subjects by assuring them, 
that he would be well treated and much honored on the oth- 
er side of the water ; that he should be brought back in a 
year ; and by adding to these assurances trifling presents of 
European trinkets. 

He left his harbor of the Holy Cross, May 6, 1536, with 
two of his vessels, having abandoned and destroyed one, 
which, from losses among his crew, he was not able to man. 
On his passage home, he made useful some discoveries, which 
enabled him to })oiiit out a shorter route from France to Can- 
ada. One of these discoveries was the broad channel on the 
south side of the island of Anticosti. This he had not before 
explored, and doubted whether it was a gulf or an open 
passage. 

He also now avoided the lono-er northern route through 
the strait of Belle Isle, and passed from the gulf through the 
broad southern opening between Cape Breton and Newfound- 
land. And what seems incredible is, that he should not have 
known the existence of this channel in his former voyages, 
but should have considered it, at this time, as a new discov- 
ery. He mentions no old names in this region, but gives ev- 
erywhere " new names ; " for instance, to the most northern 



VOYAGE OF HORE, 1536. 337 

licadland of Cape Breton the name " St. Paul," "wliicli is 
now called " North Point." Pie sailed along the southern 
coast of Newfoundland, touched at St. Peter's Island, where 
he met " many ships from France and Brittany," and passed 
Cape Race on the 19th of June. 

Thus Cartier was the first explorer who completed the cir- 
cumnavigation of Newfoundland, and saw all its coasts. It 
had been regarded by Cortereal and others as continental, 
and so depicted on their maps. It is true, however, that 
some others before Cartier had called it " an isle ;" not be- 
cause they had proved it to be such, but because it Avas very 
natural in an age of discovery, to consider new countries as 
islands, until the contrary had been proved. 

On the 16th of July 1586, Cartier, with his two ships, 
safely arrived in the port of St. Malo. 

3. The 'Voyage of Master IIore, and other Englishmen, 
TO Cape Breton and Newfoundland, in 1536. 

At the time when the French, under Cartier, undertook 
their first explorations of the River St. Lawrence, there was 
in London a certain " Master Hore, a man of great courage, 
and given to the studie of cosmographie," wlio took up the 
old project of the Cabots to discover a passage to the west 
in the northern parts of America. Perhaps his " study 
of cosmography " had convinced him, as Cabot had before 
been convinced by his knowledge of the globe, that the 
northern route to the East Indies, if open water could there 
be found, would be shorter than the usual route by the Cape 
of Good Hope. 

Master Hore encouraged and persuaded " divers gentle- 
men of the Innes of court and of the Chancerie, desirous to 
see the strange things of the world," to associate themselves 
22 



338 VOYAGE OF iioEE, isao. 

with liim " for a voyage of discoverio upon the north-east 
parts of America." Many wilHngly engaged with him, and 
Henry VIII. favored and assisted the enterprise with his ap- 
probation. 

These persons were probably stimulated to this " action " 
by the great and successful voyage of their French neigh- 
bors under Cartier, the rumor of which must have spread 
through England, and have excited there that emulation which 
has always been felt toward each other by these rival coun- 
tries. 

Two ships, the " Trinitie " and the " Minion," were manned 
"with about six-score persons," whereof not less than thirty 
were gentlemen " fond of sj)ort." "It was," as a modern 
author remarks,* " a characteristically English undertaking." 
Master Horc, probably taking the command of the two ves- 
sels, embarked in the Trinity, Avliich was " the admiral." 
Amongst others, he had with him "a very learned and vir- 
tuous gentleman, Armigil Wade." f 

The two ships sailed near the end of April, 153G, toward 
the north-west. They were very long at sea, more than two 
months, and at last " came to a part of the West Indies about 
Cape lire ton, shaping their course thence to Newfoundland," 
and along its coast toward the north. IIow far they went, 
is nowhere stated. But that they advanced a considerable 
distance in that direction, and contended a long time with 
the ice in Davis' Strait, is probable from the fact, that on 

* Dr. Aslifti-, in his " Ileniy Hudson," j). xcv. London, 18(50. 

t All our ori<^iiial information on this interesting voyage was gathered 
and published by the indefatigable lUcliard Hakluyt. In his time some of 
the gentlemen, who had aceompanied Master Hore, were still living. 
Hakluyt visited as many as he could find, and once rode not less tliari two 
hundred miles to meet one of them, "to learn the whole truth of that 
voyage." After these inquiries, he wrote the report, to be found in his 
work, " The principal navigations," etc., p. 517. London, 1589. 



VOYAGE OF HORE, 1530. 389 

retuniino- to Newfoundland, tliey wore rediiecd to the ex- 
tremes of f inline. Ills companions, tliesc wealthy gentlemen, 
had no doubt taken care to have their ships sufficiently fur- 
nislied with provisions, and they would not, therefore, have 
fallen into so great distress, if they had not had a long contest 
with the perils of the north.* 

They anchored near " Penguin Island," on the east coast 
of Newfoundland, where their want of provisions was so 
great, "that they devoured raw lierbes and rootes which they 
sought on the maine." Their extremity, at last, was so great, 
that some of them had begun to kill and eat their companions. 
" But such was the mercy of God, that there arrived just at 
the right time, a French fishing vessel in the port, well fur- 
nished with victuals; and such Avas the policie of tiie English, 
that they became masters of the same, and changing ships and 
victualling them, they left the French to their fate, setting 
sail to come into England ;" where they arrived about the end 
of October. So great were the fatigues and miseries which 
they had endured, and some of them were so altered in their 
appearance, that their friends did not recognize them. The 
father and mother of a Mr. Thomas Buts "knew him not to 
be their son, until they found a secret mark upon one of his 
knees." 

It is only just to add, that the poor French fishermen, who 
liad been robbed by the despairing English, were afterwards 
indemnified by Henry VIII. to the full extent of their 
damage. They had supported themselves for a few months 
by fishing, and afterwards had safely retm-ned. The English 
might liave supplied themselves in the same way, if they had 
been as well skilled in fishing as the French. 

This most unfortunate voyage of Master Hore was, for a 

* M. D'AvoziK! also thinks, tliat they extended their voyage " fort avant 
dans le nord." Bicve Introduction, p. xiii. 



340 EOBERVAL AND CAETIEE'S EXPEDITIONS. 

long time, the last official expedition made by tlie English to the 
north-east parts of America; although the fishing-voyages 
which the English commenced soon after Cabot's discovery, 
did not cease. They are frequently mentioned in public 
documents ; as, for instance, in an act of Parliament of the 
third year of Edward VI. (1550).* Of the English fisheries 
on these banks, we have no particular account ; and there is 
no evidence that they were pursued extensively at an early 
period. But later in the century, they became very impor- 
tant ; for Sir Humphrey Gilbert, on his arrival there in 1588, 
found English merchants and fishermen very numerous, pow- 
erful, and "at the head of all the otlier nations."! 



4. ExPEDiTio>"s OF Jeak Fra:n'50is de la Roque de Robek- 
VAL AND Jacques Cartier to Canada, in 1540 and 
1543. 

The report of Cartier to the king of his second voyage 
proved very influential. He had discovered one of the grand- 
est and most navigable rivers of the world, surrounded by 
beautiful scenery, and fertile tracts of land, " Avith copper 
mines," and many most convenient sites for erecting fortifica- 
tions, and establishing ports and cities, and well calculated for 
the foundation of a new colony or empire. He also described 
other countries further west, suo-o-estino; the neio-hborhood 
of the region of spices, and of waters conducting to them. 
Still there was one essential thing wanting ; for, among the 

*This act is mentioned in William Bollan, the Ancient Eiglit of the 
English Nation to the American Fishery, p. 7. London, 1704. 

t See Bollan, 1. c. p. 8 seq., and Hakhiyt's Voyages, Navigations, etc., 
A'ol. 3, p. 150 seq. London, 1(300. [The English were not found on the 
Grand Bank until 1517; but in 1522, they had made such progress, that they 
had erected on Newfoundland forty or iifty stages for the convenience of 
their fishermen, and afterwards pursued the business extensively. — Ed.] 



EOBEEVAL AND CAKTIER'S EXPEDITIONS. 341 

products lie brought home, there was no gold. And the poor 
northern Indian chief Donnacona, bore little resemblance to 
the chief Atabalipa, whom the Spaniards had recently plun- 
dered. What were all the beauties of Canada and Hochelaga 
in comparison to the riches of Peru, which, at that very time, 
were poured in upon Spain, and attracted the attention of the 
whole world to South America ! The capture by French 
privateers of one or two Spanish vessels returning richly 
freighted from the south, would yield a far better profit than 
all that Cartier had earned, after all the hardships endured by 
himself and his men, in their tedious Avintering amid northern 
snows and ice. 

Perhaps considerations of this kind made Francis hesitate 
for several years, before making up his mind to favor again the 
plans of Cartier, and to prosecute the work of discovery, con- 
quest, and plantation in the north-east of America. At 
lengtli an influential nobleman from the small district of 
Vimeu, in the province of Picardy, Jean Fran9ois de la 
Roque de Roberval, who was zealous in great undertakings 
and maritime enterprises, and who, from his high aspira- 
tions and provincial power, was sometimes called " the little 
king of Vimeu," succeeded in .overcoming all obstacles, and 
in persuading the king to renew, on a grander scale, the pro- 
ject of conquering and colonizing the north of America. 

Roberval was placed at the head of this expedition, and 
by royal letters patent of the 15th of January 1540, was 
named viceroy and lieutenant-general of the new countries of 
Canada, Hochelaga, Belle Isle, Saguenay, Labrador, and 
other parts of this wide territory. While Cartier, the active 
discoverer, who best knew the country, received only a subor- 
dinate appointment. 

The expedition was authorized to carry over to the great 
river soldiers, priests, men and women, and all that was nee- 



342 EOBERVAL AND CAETIER'S EXPEDITIONS. 

essary for the planting of a colony, and establisliing a gov- 
ernment in the name ot the king, over all the regions north of 
40°. These countries were considered by Francis to be the 
north-eastern end of Asia.* He now gave to them the 
general name of " New France," or at least officially con- 
firmed it. 

Cartier was named commander of all the ships equipped for 
this enterprise, with the title of " captain-general and master 
pilot," and was commissioned to continue his discoveries in 
the far west, while Roberval was appointed to e&tablish a 
colony for the lower parts of the river, and organize its gov - 
ernment. 

Roberval lost much time in procuring heavy artillery, and 
other things which he thought necessary for the establishment 
of his vice-royalty ; and Cartier, having sooner completed the 
outfit of his five ships, left St. Malo on the 23d of May, 1541, 
without waiting on the slower movements of his chief.f 

The whole undertaking, from beginning to end, was unfor- 
tunate. On the ocean, Cartier was delayed by contrary 
winds and bad weather, and did not arrive until the end of 
August at his old station, near Holy Cross harbor. He 
did not take back to his subjects their captured chief, as he 
had promised ; for Donnacona and his companions, after 
having been baptized and presented to the king, had died in 
France. Cartier did not establish himself in his former quar- 
ters, but took a position not fai' from them, and nearer to the 
present Quebec, where he built another fort, and gave to it 

♦This appears in the Royal commission given to Cartiei-, wliere these 
words occur: "grand pais des terres de Canada et Hoclielaga, /a/sani un 
bout de rAsie du cote de VOccident." See the commission in Lescarbofs His- 
toire do la Nouvelle France, p. 412. Paris, 1(512. 

t See a translation of the official French report on this voyage, preserved 
by Hakluyt, in the third volume of his " Voyages, navigations, etc.," p. 232 
Bcq.. London, IGOO. 



ROBERVAL AND CARTIER'S EXPEDITIONS. 343 

the name of " Cliarlesbourg Royal." Leaving tliore most of 
his men, and sending back two of his ships to France, he pro- 
ceeded immediate]}', Avith some enterprising French gentle- 
men, to ascend the river, and to make arrangements for a 
further exploration of the country of Saguenay, beyond 
Hochelaga, and the rapids which he had seen in 1535. He 
found three cataracts, or rapids ; succeeded in passing the 
first and second (the " courant de Ste. Marie " and the "ra- 
pides de Lachine ") ; but not being able easily to overcome 
the third (the " Sault de S. Louis "), he returned to his station 
at " Charlesbourg," where he passed the winter of 1541-2. 
He waited some time in the spring for the arrival of the 
Viceroy Roberval, who was to bring the supplies necessary 
for establishing a strong and stable colony. But having no 
news from him, and his provisions failing, his men weakened 
by disease and the hardships of winter, and the Indians being 
more excited and threatening than ever, he resolved to return 
to France. Accordingly, toward the end of May, 1542, he 
commenced his homeward voyage, and on his way met the 
tardy Roberval in the harbor of St. John,* in Newfoundland. 
But neither he nor his men could be persuaded to return to 
the place where they had suffered so severely ; and they con- 
tinued on to France, where they arrived at St. Malo, Oct. 21, 
1542. 

Roberval, probably with some of Cartier's companions, 
pilots, and charts, proceeded to the great river, and established 
himself, with his officers, gentlemen, soldiers, priests, mission- 
aries, planters, women, and the whole apparatus of his vice- 
royal colony, at a fortified place not far from Quebec, called 
by him " France Roy." From this station he made some 
exploring expeditions into the surrounding country, and may 
have even reached the borders of Maine. 

* So Hakluyt. Others say, " in the Strait of Belle Isle." 



344 ROBERVAL AND CARTIER'S EXPEDITIONS. 

He sent also one of his manners, a very expert pilot, 
named Alplionse de Saintonge,* to search for a north-west 
passage north of Newfoundland. But Saintonge went on the 
old route of the Cabots and the Cortereals no further than 
about 52° N., and returned without having effected any new 
discovery. 

The same may be said of Roberval himself. His expedi- 
tion added nothing new to the store of geographical informa- 
tion gathered by Cartier on his two voyages. He soon ap- 
pears to have come into trouble, and, in the year 1542, to 
have gone home for relief and succor, leaving a portion of his 
men at " France Roy," their winter station, wliere they suf- 
fered from hunger, scurvy, and the Indians, as much as their 
predecessors. But in the spring of 1543, Francis sent Cartier 
to bring back the remnants of this unfortunate expedition, 
witli which he returned to St. JNIalo, after an absence of eight 
months.* 

It was more than half a century from this time before tlie 
French made any effectual attempts at settlement in Canada ; 
although some authors have asserted, that Roberval renewed 
his efforts in that direction. 

The full and satisfactory reports which Cartier gave of his 
two voyages, his well-written description of the countries he 
discovered, his usefnl remarks, his correct observations of 
latitude and longitude, his ably composed maps and charts, 
all prove him to have been a man eminently qualified for the 

* Jean Alplionse de Saintonge was a very distinguished French captain, 
who formerly had traveled to Brazil, in French as well as Portuguese 
vessels. Hakluyt (vol. 3, p. 237 seq.) communicates excellent sailing direc- 
tions for the Gulf and River St. Lawrence made by this navigator. See 
more of him in a note of M. D'Avezac in "Bulletin de la Societe de 
Geograiihie," p. 317 seq. Annee, 1857. 

t See M. D'Avezac, in the Introduction to his edition of Cartier's second 
voyage. 



EOBERVAL aND CAETIER'S EXPEDITIONS. 345 

task of exploration and discovery. lie described, in an elo- 
quent and truthful manner, a great section of the interior of 
North America, defined the configuration of the sea-coasts, 
the course of the great rivers in the north, north-east, and 
north-west of Maine, and shed much light upon the region 
beyond it. Would that a seaman, like Cartier, had given us 
as much light about the sea-coast of " Norumbega," about 
Passamaquoddy, Penobscot, and Casco Bays, their capes, 
headlands, and islands, as is given by Cartier's writings and 
charts about the Bay of Chaleurs, the mouth of the St. Law- 
rence, and the island of Anticosti ! * 

It is sad, tluit France did not make a better use of such a 
talented and enterprising man. Francis I, in the years sub- 
sequent to these voyages of Cartier and Roberval, was occu- 
pied with bloody wars against the emperor of Germany and 
the king of England, and died in 1547. Cartier was forgot- 
ten, and appears to have remained, during the rest of his life, 
unoccupied, renouncing navigation, and spending his time in 
winter at St. Malo, and in summer at a country-seat, called 
Limoilou, which he owned near that town. After 1552, we 
lose sight of him altogether, and may therefore infer, Avith 
M. D'Avezac, that he died before having attained his 60th 
year.f 

As to the further career of Roberval, opinions are still more 
diverse. But I will not repeat them here, as his services as 
a discoverer and geographer are of little importance. 

Under the reign of the successors of Francis I, namely, 

*From a letter written by a relation of Cartier to an Ens^lish gentle- 
man in 1587, it appears that in this year, a chart of the whole Eiver St. 
Lawrence, drawn by Cartier's own hand, was still in existence, and in the 
possession of a Frenchman of the name of Cremeu. See this letter in , 
Hakluyt, vol. 3, p. 236, edition 1600. 

t See M. D'Avezac's Nouvelles Annales des Voyages, torn. 3, ji. 98. 
Annexe, 1864. 



346 EOBERVAL AND CARTIEE'S EXPEDITIONS. 

Heniy II, Francis II, and Henry III, the French nation was 
clistnrbed by internal re^'ohitions and bloody religions wars ; 
and in the sufferings of Old France, the New France, on 
the other side of the ocean, Avas forgotten. There was nei- 
ther money nor heart for the effectual continuance of dis- 
covery and colonization in the immense regions of the north- 
east of America. Nay, even the reports, books, and papers 
written on the old expeditions of the Verrazanos, Cartiers, 
and Robervals, were so entirely neglected by their country- 
men, that we owe their preservation entirely to foreigners, 
the Italian Ramusio, and the English Hakluyt, who obtained, 
translated, and published these records of the maritime glory 
of the French. 

" La Nouvelle France," for a long time after Cartier and 
Roberval, was nothing but a name ; still found, it is true, on 
every map of the sixteenth century, and with the good out- 
lines and configuration which Cartier had given to it, and 
described in the geographical works of the time, as he had 
reported it. But these maps and works show no progress of 
knowledge whatever. The great river of Canada, for more 
than sixty years, was invariably drawn fi.*om a point only as 
high up as the rapids near Ilochelaga, where Cartier's pro- 
gress was arrested in 1535 and 1541. 

All the activity of the French in the north-east, during 
this period of internal disturbances, was confined to the 
fishing-banks of Newfoundland. To these banks, the fisher- 
men of the little ports of Brittany and Normandy continued 
their yearly expeditions after Cartier, in the same manner 
as they had done before. And it may be, that to them we 
are indebted for some new names which we find on maps 
after the middle of the sixteenth century, which were not on 
those of Cartier. 

We shall show hereafter, that this continued action of the 



ROBERVAL AND C ARTIE R'S EXPEDITIONS. 347 

fishermen of Brittany and Normandy gave rise, not only to 
Cartier's expeditions, Lut to another scries of Royal expedi- 
tions, which at last put the French in full possession of the 
north-east of ^Vmerica, and made them there one of the prin- 
cipal powers, threatening for a time to overwhelm the tcrri- 
toxy of New England. But these events belong to the end 
of the sixteenth centuiy — the happier reign of Henry IV. 
Before coming to this period, we have other important inci- 
dents to relate. 



APPENDAGE TO CHAPTER IX, 



1. On Chart, ISTo. 18a, of Newfoundland and the Gulf of St. 
Lawrence, by Gaspar Viegas, 1534. 

In the imperial library at Paris, there is a Portulano, composed of 
five or six slieets of parchment. Every sheet contains a chart, depict- 
ing a section of the world. The principal charts represent the regions 
on the Mediterranean Sea, and are all executed with great care. 
Among them is a sheet, of which we give a copy in No. 18 a. 

The names on all the charts of this Portulano are Portuguese, and 
on one of the sheets the name of the author, " Gaspar Viegas" and the 
date of his work, " 1534," are carefully written in embellished letters.* 

I know nothing of Gaspar Viegas, nor could my friends in Paris give 
me any information respecting the author, or his map. That part of 
the sheet containing the present map is so defaced, that the names on 
it are scarcely legible ; but the general configuration, and the outlines of 
the coasts represented upon it, are clear. It is so interesting in con- 
nection with our subject, that I have introduced it here. 

The chart I'epresents Cape Breton, a part of Nova Scotia, the Gulf of 
St. Lawrence, and Newfoundland. It places in the midst of the ocean 
some islands which do not exist at all, but which, notwithstanding, 
were laid down on many old Portugviese and Spanish charts, un- 
der the same names, as " Aredonda," " Do bretan," " de Juan Esteva- 
nez," etc. 

I have here given the names as they were copied by M. D'Avezac, 
and I will begin the examination of them and of the coasts represent- 
ed, at the north-east coast of Newfoundland. 

Though we know nothing of the first name in the north-east " S. f •="• " 
nor its latitude ; still it appears certain, that it must be some northern 
point of Newfoundland. But the Sti-ait of Belle Isle is not found on 
the chart. Newfoundland is not depicted as an island, but as a largo 

*The celebrated French geographer, M. D'Avezac, tirst drew my attention to this 
worlc, and Icindly communicated to me a sketcli of it. A fac-simile was afterwarda 
taken in Taris, of which our map, No. 18a, is a copy, 



:2: 









(T^ 









^o 



Cm 
4^ 















42 






'^o J^l??^' 1 



HC I 



CHART OF GASPAR VIEGAS, 1534. 349 

peninsula, and part of the continent. This indicates, that Newfound- 
land was first proved to be an island by Cartier's survey of its " back- 
side," or its western coast, in 1534, and by its complete circumnaviga- 
tion in a subsequent voyage. 

Some of the Portuguese names on the eastern, coast of J^Tewfound- 
land, are reproduced on this from former charts, and are well known 
to us as " C. de Boavista," " C. Frey Luis," " Ceiria," etc. Some others 
not mentioned on former Portuguese charts, are new to us, as " Baia 
das Pojas," " Rio Real," etc. Viegas may have taken them from the 
reports or charts of Portuguese fisliermen. 

The south-eastern point of Newfoundland has its old Portuguese 
name, " C. llasso" (Cape Race). Its southern coast has its true direc- 
tion from west-north-west, to east-south-east; and the great bay in the 
midst of it, now called Fortune Bay, is accurately depicted, and also 
Placentia and St. Mary's Bays, east of Fortune Bay; though they are 
not I'epresented in their true proportions. 

The western half of the south coast of the island, proceeding from 
Fortune Bay, has on our map no great bays, in conformity with the ac- 
tual coiidition of the coast. And the Portuguese names given to 
points on this section, as " S. Maria," " S. Andre," " C. da tormenta," 
" C. de piloto," " XI virges," etc., are nearly all of them new to me. 
They were probably given to the respective places by Portuguese fish- 
ermen. 

The south coast ends with " C. da volta" (Cape of return), which is 
probably the name of our present " Cape Ray," the southern projection 
of the island upon the grand entrance to the Gulf of St. Lawrence. 

The opposite Cape of this great channel has no name given to it, 
though the island of Cape Breton, and the Gut of Canso, are plainly 
enough indicated on the chart. 

On the western side of the Gut of Canso, which is the eastern coast 
of Nova Scotia, the following names occur : " C. do Bretan," " S. p" " 
(San Pedro), "S. Paulo," "R. da gente." These names were intended 
for the island east of the Gut of Canso, and were written by the map- 
maker on the place where they stand, because there was more room 
for them than in the place where they belong. 

'■ C. de Bretan" (Cape Breton) is a name found on many old charts, 
first applied to the cape, and afterwards extended to the whole island, 
which now bears that name. " S. Paulo " is also a name often met 
with on the east coast of Cape Breton. Cartier in the report of Jiis 
voyage of 1535 affirms, that on this occasion he planted here this 
name. He was not, however, quite correct in tliis statement, the name 
having been previously attached to it on such old charts as this of Vie- 



850 CHART OF GASrAR VIEGAS, 1534. 

gas. Ho only adopted and confirmed tlie name previously given. At 
present it is attached to the well-known rocky island, " St. Paul's," 
standing in the midst of the entrance to the Gulf of St. Lawrence, and 
is its principal land-mark for vessels entering it. 

The entrance to the gulf has nearly its true proportion, but not so 
the gulf itself. It is far too small ; and is depicted as closed in the 
north-west, where the Strait of Belle Isle should be'shown. The prin- 
cipal southern entrance to the gulf had been represented, as I have be- 
fore observed, on many former maps ; for instance, on that of Kibero, 
made after Gomez. * But on no former chart had the Gulf of St. Law- 
rence been so clearly and correctly indicated, as on the map we are ex- 
amining ; and this is the principal reason for introducing it here. It 
is the best introductory ma]) for the voyages of Cartier, which we have 
been able to find. It was made in Portugal in the same year in which 
Cartier made his first exploring expedition ; but it was finished before 
the results of Cartier's expeditions could have become known to Vie- 
gas, or any other person in Europe. 

I can give no explanation of the names written on the coasts sur- 
rounding the gulf, " Pdo fremosa," " Rio da trave^a," " Eio pria," " Cos- 
tacha," and several others. They go to prove that Portuguese and 
French fishermen had circumnavigated the gulf long before Cartier, 
which indeed is rendered probable by other reasons. 

The long inlet or river at the north-west of Cape Breton, running 
east and west, and having similar proportions with the Bay of Cha- 
leurs, is probably that bay, to which some names were added on the 
original, which are now illegible. 

The only indication of the mouth of the great river of Canada on our 
map is an inlet in the north-west of the chart, to which the name " Rio 
pria" is given. 

Newfoundland is represented as a very great country, and the Gulf 
of St. Lawrence, to which no name is given, as a rather small gulf. 
These circumstances may explain Cartier's proceedings on his voyage 
of 1.534. We should suppose that he might have been acquainted with 
maps like this before us, or that of Ribero of 1529, and therefore have 
been aware of a channel and a gulf between Cape Breton and New- 
foundland. Still we find that in his voyage of 1534, instead of using 
this broad passage to the gulf, he entered it by the Strait of Belle Isle ; 
and when on his return he passed out of the main entrance, proclaim- 
ing that he had discovered a new and shorter route to France, we can- 
not resist the inference, that he did not know of this broad southern 

*See our map, No. 16. 




tr ^ 



Fold-out 
Placeholder 



This fold-out is being digitized, and will be inserted at 

future date. 




Fold-out 
Placeholder 



This fold-out is being digitized, and will be insertec 

future date. 



FRENCH MAP OF EAST COAST, 1543. 351 

■ channel. He must have supposed, that the gulf to which the Strait of 
Belle Isle conducted, was distant from a smaller gulf near Cape Breton, 
which had been drawn on Eibcro's chart, and reproduced on that of 
Viegas. When, therefore, he passed out of the main channel, he was 
surprised to find that both channels conducted to one broad gulf, of 
which he had previously no knowledge.* 



2. CiiAKT, No. 18, OF Canada and the East Coast of the United 
States, fkom a Map of the World made in 1543. 

M. Jomard, in his " Monuments de la Geographic," furnishes a fac- 
simile of a large and excellent representation of the world, to which 
he has given the title " Mappe-monde peinte sur parchemin par ordre 
de Henri II, Roi de France" (Map of the world drawn on parchment 
by order of Henry II, king of France). M. Jomard puts its date at 
" about the middle of the sixteenth century." M. D'Avezac, after a 
careful examination of the maj), has come to the conclusion that 1542 
must be adopted for its date.t M. D'Avezac therefore thinks that the 
map was made by order and at the cost of Francis I, though perhaps 
for the use of Henry II, who was then the Dauphin. 

It is said that, in 1542, a learned Portuguese, " Don Miguel de Sylva," 
bishop of Viseu, having been banished from Portugal, had come to 
France, and brought with him several good official Portuguese and 
Spanish charts and maps. If this is true, it suggests the source from 
which the unknown author of this map procured the excellent and true 
delineations, which he has given us in his general map of the world, of 
the coasts of East India, China, Australia, and several parts of America. 
These concurrent events — the arrival in the same year, 1542, of new 
maps from Canada on the one hand, and from Portugal and Spain on 
the other — may have given occasion in France for the composition of a 
new and splendid atlas of the world for Francis and the Dauphin. But 
still, I think we should allow the compiler a year to arrange these 
abundant materials, prepare and publish his great work, and must 
therefore determine the year of its publication to be 1543. 

The map is not only one of the most brilliant, but also one of the 
most exact and trustworthy pictures of the world which we have in 
the first part of the sixteenth century. It gives accurately all that was 

* [This grand entrance to the gulf is about seventy-five miles wide in its narrowest 
part from Cape Kay to North Cape, the northern point of Capo Breton.— Ed.] 

tSee JI. D'Avezac's Inventaire et classement raisonn6 des "Monuments do la G6o- 
graphie " in " Bulletin de I'Academie des Inscriptions." S6.ince du 33, aout, 1867. 



352 FRENCH MAP OF EAST COAST, 1543. 

known of the world in 1543, especially of the ocean, and the outlines 
of the coasts of different countries. It is a sea-chart, and contains 
very few of the geographical features of the interior of countries, ex- 
cept in Europe ; supplying their place with portraits of kings, pictures 
of tlie natives, and the natural productions of the countries, the trees, 
animals, and other objects of interest. But on the sea-coasts there is 
nothing fanciful. The author of the map must have been a well- 
instructed, intelligent, and conscientious man. Where the coasts of a 
country are not known to liim, he so designates them. For his repre- 
sentation of countries recently discovered and already known, he had 
before him the best models and originals. The central parts of Amer- 
ica around the Gulf of Mexico, and even East India and Southern Chi- 
na, are drawn with admirable accuracy. 

No. 18, the map now under consideration, is reduced from a frag- 
ment of M. Jomard's copy, representing tlie east coast of the United 
States and the river and gulf of St. Lawrence. The original chart is 
covered all along the shores with a multitude of names. Those which 
are applied to the coast of Maine, I have given in full ; on more distant 
coasts, I have omitted those which are of little consequence to us, and 
on which I have no explanations to make : noticing only those which 
are better known to history, and which may serve as a guide to my 
reader. 

The names on the east coast of the United States are Spanish, and 
must have been taken from Spanish originals. We find in the south, 
" La Florida," " Cape St. Helene," " C. St. Romain," " Bay dc St. Marie " 
(Chesapeake Bay), and others. 

Of the three great gulfs on the east coast, two are clearly expressed, 
namely, that of Georgia in the south, and the Gulf of Maine in the 
north. No trace of the Gulf of New York is found on the chart. 

The names on the coast of New England and Nova Scotia are also 
of Spanish origin. No evidence appears that the report or chart of the 
French commander, Verrazano, had been used in constructing this 
chart. Not even the island of " Claudia " appears, which later English 
and German map-makers still retained at the time of its composition. 
It is probable that the chart of Verrazano had disappeared from the 
marine archives of France ; and this supposition confirms the state- 
ment of Ilakluyt, that Verrazano carried his chart to England, and 
presented it to Henry VIII. 

The often mentioned " Cabo de arenas," here translated " C. des sab- 
Ions," is placed as usual in 40° N. It has large sand-banks before it ; 
which strengthens my opinion that by this " Sandy Cape," Cape Cod 
was designated, surrounded as it is by George's sand-banks and Nan- 



FRENCH MAP OF EAST COAST, 1543. 353 

tucket shoals ; while in the vicinity of Cape Ilenlopcn or Sandy Hook, 
there are no such great and dangerous shoals and banks. 

The gulf to the north-east of " Capo des sablons," as far as Nova 
Scotia, represents the Gulf of Maine, and has evidently been copied from 
the chart of Kibero, No. 16. It has exactly the same configuration, 
the same chain of islands characteristic of this gulf, the same great 
river-mouth running north and south, and also the same Spanish 
names, in a French version ; " G. de St. Christophle," " R. de St. Au- 
thoine," "M. verde" (green mountain), " R. de bonne mere," "Baye 
de St. Johan Baptiste," " Les montaignes," the " Arcipel de estienno 
Gomez," and " C. des isles." Beyond this on the east, " los medanos " 
(the hillocks) ; and on the coast of Nova Scotia, "Les montaignes" 
(the mountains), and " R. de la volte," or " buelta " (river of the return). 

Besides these old Spanish names, introduced by Stephen Gomez and 
Ribero, our chart has many others along the coast, not to be found on 
Ribcro's or any prior Spanish chart known to us. These new names 
are from south-west to north-east, as follows: " Y« des loups" (the isl- 
ands of the wolves), "Les escorey" ( ?), " Les gei*maines" ( ?), " Coste 
R. ontra" (?), "La playne" (the plain), and " Auorobagra," as M. 
Jomard has given it. This remarkable name stands near the largest 
bay of our coast (Penobscot Bay), at the same place where subsequent 
maps have the name " Norumbega." Fx-om the similarity of these 
names, we might suppose them to be the same, and that M. Jomard 
carelessly substituted " Auorobagra " for the word " Norobagra " in the 
original. The name " Auorobagra " runs up to a cluster of houses, or a 
castle, in the same place where we find represented, on subsequent 
maps, the large but fabulous " city of Norumbega." 

It is impossible for us to say whether all these new names, the local- 
ities of which I cannot exactly determine, may be taken as indications 
of new discoveries made by French seamen on our coast'. 

Beyond Penobscot Bay, and on the coast of Nova Scotia as far as 
" Cape; Breton," which is represented as a veiy small island, the new 
names are still more numerous. The name " Terre des Bretons," 
seems to be given to the whole of Nova Scotia, and no indication what- 
ever exists of the Bay of Fundy. 

The most important new feature of this map is, that the waters and 
countries in the rear and at the north of Maine are, for the first time, 
correctly exhibited. The gulf and river of St. Lawrence are depicted 
with great truthfulness, according to the discoveries of Cartier and 
Roberval in 1534 and 1542, and according to their charts. Our map 
shows that Cartier made very good observations on latitude, longitude, 
and distance. The Gulf of St. Lawrence and all its principal bays, hcad- 
23 



854 CHAET OF NICHOLAS VALLARD, 1547. 

lands, and islands, are given in their right places and with their true 
configuration, as is also the Kiver St. Lawrence, as high up as the first 
rapids. The territory of Maine, on the peninsula between the great 
river and the Atlantic, has also its true position and extent. 

ISTeither the gulf nor the river of St. Lawrence has a name on this 
chart. The name " St. Laurens " is given to a small bay in the north, 
where Cartier placed it on his first exploring expedition. The river 
was at that time styled, " the great river of Hochelaga," which was ap- 
plied to it by Cartier. * 

The name Hochelaga (or Ochelaga) is given to the country north- 
east of the river; and further on is laid down the remarkable river 
"Le Saguenay," described by Cartier. The name "Canada," though 
not as yet generally adopted, makes a large figure on our chart. But I 
can only slightly allude here to the history of these names and objects 
the details of which belong more properly to a history of Canada. 

A portrait is given of the {srincipal commander of the expedition to 
Canada in 1542, " Monsieur de Roberval," standing in the midst of this 
wild country, at the head of his little trooji of French soldiers. Among 
the pictures placed on the coast of New England, are those of a wild 
bear and of a unicorn. 

The North Atlantic Ocean is styled, " La Mer Oceane," and the south- 
ern section of it, " Mer d'espaigue." The northern section, nearer our 
coasts, is named " Mer de France." The coast of Maine is also distin- 
guished by a canoe with Indians paddling along the shore ; and the 
coast and waters adjacent to it are well delineated. The banks of 
Newfoundland are indicated by two long lines of points, where whale- 
fishing is going on. 

The French, after Gomez and Verrazano, probably came near 
our coast several times and planted their French names, which soon 
sui:)erseded the original Spanish. 

3. On Chart, No. 19, of the East Coast of North America, 
FROM the Atlas of Nicholas Vallard de Dieppe, 1543. 

No. 19 is a chart of Canada and the east coast of North America, 
copied from a manuscript atlas now in possession of Sir Thomas 

*Thus " El gran riv " is still called " El gran riv de Ochelaga " by Herrera, in his 
description of America, published in 1601. The name " St. Lawrence River," must, 
however, have come into use very soon after Cartier. In 1553 it wasi used by the 
Spanish historian Gomara. In his History of the Indies, printed in 1553, fol. 7, he 
describes Canada, and then speaks of the great river St. Lawrence (gran riv dicho san 
lorenfo). 




Fold-out 
Placeholder 



This fold-out is being digitized, and will be inserted at 

future date. 



^^ "" ^ J^ 



r 



^ 



I — 4 



^ 




^ i^ ^ ^ 



O 

o 



Fold-out 
Placeholder 



This fold-out is being digitized, and will be inserted 

future date. 



CHART OF NICHOLAS VALLARD. 1547. 355 

Phillips, Bart., of Thirlestaine House, Cheltenham. This English gen- 
tleman, well known for his large collection of rare and curious books, 
MSS., and historical documents, had the great kindness to allow me, 
in 1854, to take a copy of this map. 

The atlas has this inscription : " Nicliolas Vallurd dc Dieppe dans 
I'annee, 1547." This inscription is thought by some to denote the au- 
thor of the map ; by others, simply its owner in 1547. The celebrated 
French geographer, Barbie du Bocage, in 1807, read a paper on this 
atlas at a public session of the French Academy, in which he expressed 
the oi^inion " tliat the atlas had been drawn at Dieppe, in 1547, by a 
person of the name of Nicholas Vallard."* Sir Frederick Madden, 
" who had an oi^portunity of examining the atlas, thought that it was 
not made by Vallard, although it bore his name and the date 1547 ; t 
but that the name was only a mark of ownership." This is also my 
own opinion. 

We know but little of Vallard, except that he was a Frenchman. 
Some have called liim a French geographer and map-maker. But it is 
obvious from internal evidence, that this atlas could not have been 
made by a Frenchman, but only by a Portuguese. There are very ac- 
curately depicted in the atlas certain discoveries made by the Portu- 
guese in Australia, which were kept secret by the king of Portugal, 
and of which Frenchmen probably could have had no knowledge at that 
time. And again the French names in the atlas, as I shall show more 
particularly hereafter, are either given in a Portuguese translation, or so 
corruptly written, as to render the opinion of a Frencli authorship 
entirely inadmissible. 

The question, how a document like this, made in Portugal and con- 
taining Portuguese secrets, could be brought from Lisbon, and fall into 
the hands of a Frenchman, has been answered by the conjecture, that 
it was taken to France by Don Miguel de Sylva, bishop of Viseu, a 
faithless servant of John III, of Portugal. This bishop had been 
a secretaiy and a favorite of the king of Portugal, but had left his 
place and country in a treacherous manner about 1542, " carrying with 
him certain jjaj^ers of importance," with which the king had intrusted 
him. He passed through France to Italy, to receive in Rome the car- 
dinal's hat in 1543.| Among the documents thus taken from Portugal 
and left in France, this atlas, or at least the Portuguese original of it, 

*See a translation of this paper, in R. H. Major's Early Voyages to Terra Austialis, 
Introduction, p. xxxv. 

t See Major, 1. c. p. xxvii.' 

tSee R. H. Major, Early Voyages to Australia, Introduction, p. xliv. seq. London, 
1859. 



356 CHART OF NICHOLAS VALLARD, 1547. 

is supposed to have been one ; besides which there were other precious 
Portuguese charts, which are now deposited partly in Frencli, partly 
in English collections. A French amateur and painter copied the Por- 
tuguese original, and embellished it with figures and scenes from life; 
and this French copy fell into Vallard's hands. At the beginning of 
this century it came into the possession of Prince Talleyrand, and 
then attracted the attention of the French geographer, Barbie du Bo- 
cage,* who described it as above mentioned, in his paper read before 
the members of the French Academy. The work was afterwards ob- 
tahied by Sir Thomas Phillips, who is the present owner. 

The title given in this atlas to the section now under review, is " Terre 
de Bacalos." This is the old name applied to these regions before the 
middle of the sixteenth century, and was for some time used by the 
side of the new name " Nouvelle France." The former title may have 
been added by Vallard, the owner of the atlas. 

In the north, the map begins with " Labrador," our present Green- 
land, and gives to this country, as well as to the entrance of Davis' 
and Hudson's Straits, in 00° N., the configuration and features which 
they usually have on old Portuguese charts. 

Next follows •' Terra Nova," our present Labrador and Newfound- 
land, with many names affixed, which are partly Portuguese and partly 
French, as far south as " C. de Rax" (Cape Race). 

The best part? of the map are the waters and coasts north of Maine, 
and the outlines of the gulf and river St. Lawrence. Like our map No. 
18, made for Henry II, but better and more accurate than that, they are 
evidently drawn from Cartier's discoveries and surveys. The gulf and 
river of St. Lawrence have a Portuguese name, " Rio do Canada." 
Prince Edward Island, at the south of the gulf, is better delineated than 
on former maps. Nearly all the names from the Strait of Belle Isle along 
the south coast of Labrador, and along the northern shore of the River 
St. Lawrence, are evidently taken from Cartier's reports and charts, 
though some of them are apparently much corrupted by the Portu- 
guese writer. We find from east to west, " Belle Isle," " brest," " C. tre- 
not" (instead of Cape Tieno, as Cartier has it), " G. lorens" (instead of 
la baye de St. Laurens), " Rio douche" (instead of Riviere douce), " le 
Saguenay," "lUe de coudre" (instead of Isle aux coudres), "Ille dor- . 
liens" (instead of Isle d'Orleans), " Canada," and " tadacone" (instead 
of Stadacone), near Quebec, " lago de golesme " (instead of lac d'An- 
goulcmc), " ochelaga" (instead of Ilochelaga), near Montreal. 

Some of the names along the River St. Lawrence, " totomagy," " es- 

* See Major, 1. c. p. xxviii. 



CHART OF NICHOLAS VALLAED, 1547. 357 

tadacoe," " agochonda," " canoche," etc., are not found in Cartier's re- 
ports, tliougli they may have been on his charts. 

From these names it appears to be quite certain, that the original 
atlas was composed by a Portuguese; who, however, must have copied 
from the French charts of Cartier, at least for the outlines of the coun- 
try of Bacalaos ; tlius also proving, that these French charts must have 
reached Portugal soon after Cartier's voyage of 1535. The Portuguese 
of course were eager to gain a knowledge of the prosecution of the 
discoveries, which they had begun in these regions with the voyages of 
the Cortereals, and wliere their fishing operations were so extensive 
and valuable. 

Several interesting scenes are depicted on the northern shore of the 
river of Canada. Among them, near Quebec, is a fort mounted with 
cannon, and a French settlement, where is a group of Frenchmen sur- 
rounded, at a little distance, by astonished Indians. In front of this 
group, the figure of the commander stands forth prominently. Among 
them are soldiers, planters, monks, missionaries, together with several 
women, apparently of religious orders, and also wives of French peas- 
ants. Before them are some dogs playing, as if they were quite at 
home in this distant and strange country. 

These representations refer, not to Cartier's visit in 1535, because 
he had with him at that time only mariners, soldiers, and explorers ; 
but to the later visit of Roberval and Cartier, in 1541-1542, when they 
were accompanied by women, planters, missionai'ies, and the materials 
for founding a colony. By the " commander," on our map, is therefore 
probably intended the royal viceroy Roberval, who had been before 
pictured on another map of Canada (No. 18). 

Roberval did not return home befoi'e the year 1542, the year in which 
these Portuguese maps are said to have been carried to France ; and it 
may well be doubted, whether he and his company could have been de- 
picted in Portugal, before this date, in the manner here represented. 
And the French would have been more desirous of honoring their Grand 
Seigneur Roberval by such delineations, than the Portuguese.' By 
adopting the suggestion of M. Barbie du Bocage, " that this atlas is not 
the Portuguese original, but only a copy of the stolen Portuguese doc- 
ument made in France,"* we may safely conjecture, that these pic- 
tures, not found in the Portuguese original, were added by the French 
artists, who were fond of embellishing their maps in this manner. 

The principal objects on our map are the gulf and river of Canada. 
But it gives very little new light on the geography of the sea-coast of 

*See Major, 1. c. p. xlv. 



358 CABOT'S MAr, 1544. 

Nova Scotia and New England. At the south-west of Newfoundland, 
we find " C. Breton," with a fair delineation of this cape ; and beside 
this, the name " Rio S. Pol," no doubt the " Cape de St. Paul," so called 
by Carticr on his second voyage in 1535. A large channel and island are 
depicted south of it ; a misrepresentation, probably, of the " Gut of 
Canso." The"Eio grant" (Great Eiver), is a name found on most of 
the old maps of Nova Scotia. At this point, then, we are still in that 
country; and so far as the geography of Nova Scotia is concerned, our 
ma}) shows no improvement. West of this the entrance of a large bay 
is indiccated, perhaps the Bay of Fundy. Then comes " Rio priraero " 
(first river), perhaps the first to be met with in arriving from Nova 
Scotia on the coast of New England. At some distance west comes 
" Rio do gamas," a Portuguese misreading for " Rio de las gamas " 
with its large mouth filled with islands (Penobscot River and Bay). 
Not far from this comes " C. Sta. Marie;" and near this is a small semi- 
circular bay, full of islands, which looks like Casco Bay, and bears the 
name " arcipelago." After this follow the usual names given by Go- 
mez in these regions, " montana," " b. de S. Juan," and " R. de la buena 
madre," changed by the Portuguese author to " Rio de buena madeira " 
(the river of good timber). The whole coast from " Rio dolozo"and 
" Rio do gamas," as far south as " C. de Croix," is bordered with small isl - 
ets, and has the shape of the Gulf of Maine ; which was, therefore, prob- 
ably intended. " C. de Croix," which is made very prominent, and put 
in latitude 40° 20' N., with a small bay west of it, undoubtedly denotes 
Cape Cod; having supplanted the old name of " Cabo de Arenas," now 
placed next to it on the south. From this point to " B. Sta. Marie " 
(Chesapeake), is but a short distance ; wdiile the waters and coasts near 
New York, as Ave formerly suggested, appear to be wholly omitted 
from the map. This part of the map is one of those manifold misrep- 
resentations of the exploration of Estevan Gomez, introduced first 
in the map of Ribero, and after that repeated in endless variations. 

South of the Bay of Sta. Marie (Chesapeake Bay), as far down as 
Florida, we find the customary Spanish names, which oi'iginated in the 
expeditions of Ponce de Leon and Ayllon. 

4. No. 20, ON THE ENGRAVED MAP OF THE "WORLD, SAID TO HAVE 
BEEN MADE BY SEBASTIAN CABOT, IN 1544, — AND THE VOY- 
AGE SAID TO HAVE BEEN MADE BY JOHN AND SEBASTIAN 
Cabot, in 1494. 

Our mai3. No. 20, is copied from a fragment of a very large engraved 
map of the world, consisting of several sheets, found recently, 1 be- 
lieve about the year 1855, in Germany, from which it was taken to 




Fold-out 
Placeholder 



This fold-out is being digitized, and will be inserted at c 

future date. 




Fold-out 
Placeholder 



This fold-out is being digitized, and will be inserted: 

future date. 



CABOT'S MAP, 1544. 359 

France and deposited in the imperial library at Paris. Tlic celebrated 
French geographer, M. Jomard, through whose instrumentality it 
was procured, embodied a fac-simile of it in his great work, " Monu- 
ments de la Geographie." I furnish here only that part of the map 
which has a special relation to the object of our researches. 

The map contains, besides its delineation of all parts of the world, nu- 
merous and long inscriptions, written in the Spanish language, and 
translated into Latin. One of these inscriptions, No. XVII, is as fol- 
lows : 

" Sebastian Caboto capitan y piloto mayor de la S. C. C. M. del Impe- 
rador Don Carlos quinto deste nombre y Rey nuestro sennor liizo esta 
figura extensa in piano anno del nascim^ deiiro Salvador Jesu Christo 
de MDXLIIII annos " (Sebastian Cabot, captain and pilot major of his 
sacred imperial majesty the emperor Don Carlos, the fifth of this name, 
and king, our lord, made this figure extended in plane, in the year of 
the birth of our Saviour Jesus Christ, 1044). 

In this inscription, the assertion is plain enough, that the celebrated 
Sebastian Cabot " made " this map in the year 1544. Who makes this 
assertion, we do not know. By some, it is supposed, that Cabot speaks 
here himself; others have thought, that it must be another person, and 
that neither the above inscription, nor the other legends of the map, 
were composed by Sebastian Cabot.* I agree with the latter opinion. 

These inscriptions all speak of Cabot in the third person ; and they 
contain assertions, opinions, and expressions which scarcely could be 
ascribed to him, as I shall endeavor to make clear, when I come to 
speak particularly of them, and show that these inscriptions were 
probably interpolated by the editor or i)ublisher of the map, or some 
person employed by them. 

The inscription, No. XVII, asserts, that Cabot " hizo esta figura " 
(made the figure). What this means, and what kind of agency it ascribes 
to Cabot in the construction of the map, is not clear. Does the inscrip- 
tion pretend that Cabot himself engraved the map? We have never 
heard that Cabot, like the German Mercator, and the Belgian Ortelius, 
engraved maps with his own hand. It is very probable, that the 
inscription means nothing more, than that the map was drawn and en- 
graved after some original manuscript map, supposed to have been 
made by Sebastian Cabot. 

The year 1544 is given as the date when the map was engraved ; and 

•Mr. Bancroft, for instance, in his articles on the Cabots in Appieton's American 
Cyclopedia, and also Mr. Charles Deanc in his " Remarks on Sebastian Cabot's Mappe- 
monde," p. 6, Cambridge, 1867, are of this opinion. 



360 CABOT'S MAP, 1544. 

tliis date is confirmed by internal evidence. The map furnishes a cor- 
rect delineation of the Eiver St. Lawrence, as high up as the first rapids. 
This delineation was first made by Cartier and Eoberval in 1542, and 
was not known in Europe previous to 1543 or 1544. 

Again, our map contains an exact copy of the well-known chart of 
California, made in 1541, by the pilot Domingo del Castillo. 

That the map could not have been made much after 1544, is probable 
from the fact, that California, as here represented, does not reach 
higher up than about 35° N., the extent of its discovery made in 1.541, 
by Alarcon and Castillo ; and that from this point, a blank space is left 
for the more northern discoveries of Cabrillo in the years 1542, 1543, 
which, however, must have been known in Europe soon after 1544. . 

This date is also confirmed by the outlines of the west coast of South 
America, where the coast south of Chili is laid down as far as about 
40° S., which was the extent of Spanish discoveries and conquests 
under Valdiviain 1.542; while from that point toward Magellan's Strait, 
our map presents a perfect blank. Still, again, the great island of 
Chiloe was not discovered until after 1544, and is not, therefore, indi- 
cated on our map. And finally, Sebastian Cabot was, at this date, 1544, 
and not much later, chief pilot of the king of Spain, as he is styled 
on the map. 

From these circumstances we are brought to the conclusion, that the 
engraving and publishing of this chart arc justly placed in the year 1544. 

Neither the publisher of the map, nor the place of its publication is 
indicated, which is a singular, perhaps a suspicious circumstance. 
Nearly all good maps of the sixteenth century contain both the name 
of the publisher and the place of publication. Ortelius in his great 
work, " Theatrum orbis terrarum,"* gives a catalogue of nearly two 
hundred maps of the sixteenth century, most of them engraved ; and 
they have, almost without exception, the name of the publisher, the 
I)lace of printing, and the year of publication. Why have these been 
omitted on this mai> ? Did not the publisher and printer like to be 
known ? 

From the fact that the inscriptions and names of the map are written 
in Spanish, and also because Charles V, in one of the inscriptions, is 
called "Nuestro senor" (our lord), we might be induced to think, that 
the map was engraved and published in Spain. But other considera- 
tions render this supposition improbable. 

Long before the date of this map, there were, in Spain, very able 
mathematicians and map-makers ; but they made their charts for the 

•Edition Antverpiae, 1609. 



CABOT'S MAP, 1544, 361 

king of Spain, or for his hj^drographicnl bureau, and for the use of the 
Spanish navy. Such charts were kept in manuscriiit, because the 
Spanish officials were desirous of preventing their discoveries from 
being known. In the year 1527, only seventeen years before the date of 
this map, tlie English merchant, Robert Thorne, in his well-known 
letter to Doctor Ley, ambassador of Henry VIII. to the Emperor 
Charles, says, that " in Spain, none may make Gardes but certain ap- 
pointed and allowed masters, as for that peradventure it woulde not 
sounde well to them, that a stranger shoulde knowe or discover their 
secretes." And in sending to his countryman a very rough and small 
chart of the world, Thorne entreats him not to show or communicate 
this chart to the other courts of Europe, " because it might bee a cause 
of paine to the maker." Is it probable that seventeen years after this, 
the policy of the Spanish government would have been so changed^ as 
to allow a complete and detailed chart of the world to be engraved, 
printed, and published in Spain in the name of the royal chief pilot? 

All the first engraved maps of the world, particularly of the new 
world, were published elsewhere than in Spain, and principally in 
Italy and Germany. JTot one of the editions ^f Ptolemy, to which the 
first maps of the modern discoveries were attached, was published in 
Spain. Ortelius, in his catalogue above quoted of two hundred maps 
and charts of the sixteenth century, has not mentioned a single map 
representing America, or any parts of it, as having been engraved and 
published in Spain. The two maps of America which were first printed 
in Spain, so far as I know, are those added, first, to the Spanish work 
of Pedro de Medina, " Libro de grandezas y cosas memorables de 
Spaiia," published in 1549; and, second, to Gomara's history of the 
Indies, published in 1554. These, however, are not sea-charts, but only 
general outlines of the new world in a very small compass, gathered 
from well-known foreign publications. The publishing of such small 
charts might have been easily allowed by the Spanish government in 
the middle of the sixteenth century, without incurring any danger of 
betraying its secrets. 

Oviedo, in the second part of his great work on the history of Amer- 
ica, which he wrote several years after 1544, mentions the map of 
Ribero made in 1529, and of Chaves made in 1536 ; but does not allude 
to a map of Sebastian Cabot, as having been published in Spain. 

The copy of the map of 1544, which I am examining, was found in 
Germany; but several copies of maps, ascribed to Sebastian Cabot, 
formerly existed in England; and one is mentioned by Ortelius as 
having been seen by him in Belgium. These may have been copies, or 
perhaps different editions of the map engraved in 1544, as they all have 



362 CABOT'S MAP, 1544. 

a general resemblance. But thougli seen in other countries,* not a 
single copy is known to have existed in Spain, or to have come from 
there. 

We therefore come to the conclusion, that the Cabot map was neither 
engraved nor published in Spain, but perhaps in Germany or Belgium. 
In Belgium, particularly in Antwerp, many Spanish books were early 
printed, and there, as well as in Spain, they might call the Emperor 
Charles " nuestro senor." There, too, they could take more liberty 
with Spanish secrets ; though even there, the publisher may have had 
his reasons for not mentioning his name, or the place of publication. 

If it should appear probable, for the reasons adduced, that this map 
was not i)ublished in Spain, bvit in some other country, as Belgium 
for instance, it is I'eudered extremely doubtful, whether Cabot, who was 
then residing in Spain, had any agency in it. Is it to be supposed that 
he would direct the work from so distant a country as Spain, examine 
proof-sheets, correct errors, and do other necessary acts in the publica- 
tion ? This doubt is confirmed by the contents of the map, such as the 
configuration of the countries, the orthography of the names attached 
to them, and other circumstances, which go to show that Cabot could 
not have prepared or inspected the work. 

In the inscription, No. XVII, the map is called a marine chart (carta 
de marear) ; but it is not strictly this, but something between a chart 
and a map. For in regions where the interior was known, as in Europe 
and Asia, the map gives the rivers, mountains, and cities belonging 
thereto. 

But the shape and outlines of these portions of the old world, 
although covered by a series of names, are not accurately given. They 
were much better represented on several maps of the middle of the 
sixteenth century, particularly on some French and Italian maps. 
Even the coasts of the best and earliest known of all the seas, the 
Mediterranean, are here much misshapen and misplaced. Even Spain 
itself, and also Great Britain, the countries in which Sebastian Cabot 
passed the greater part of his life, are very carelessly represented : as, 
for instance, Ireland is made as large as England and Scotland together. 
In Spain, we find places like " Guadelupe " mentioned, but not the im- 
portant harbor of Corunna. In Great Britain, several small places are 
indicated, but not Bristol ! — that commercial centre, in which the Cabots 
lived, and from which their exploring expeditions proceeded. 

*These engraved maps, ascribed to Sebastian Cabot, and reported to have been seen 
in England and Belgium, are enumerated in Charles Deane's Remarks on Sebastian 
Cabot's " Mappe-monde," pp. 3, 4. Cambridge, 1867. 



CABOT'S MAP, 15M. 8G3 

In connection with Bristol I may also observe, that this map gives to 
Iceland the longitude of the Shetland Islands ! and places it directly 
north, instead of north-west of Scotland. The route from Great 
Britain to Iceland had been, from time immemorial, familiar to British 
ships, in their yearly traffic. That Iceland was situated north-west, 
and not nortii of Great Britain, must have been known in Cabot's time 
to every sailor in Bristol. How then can we account for it, that Cabot, 
on a maritime chart, should have made so great a mistake with respect 
to an island so well known ? 

The ill success of the author in deUneating the oldest countries, does 
not lead us to anticipate any better results in his attempts in the new 
world. I may however add, that his latitudes and drawings of the new 
world are, in some instances, better than those of the old world, as in 
those of Mexico, Yucatan, Florida, and some others. 

The language of the map is partly Latin and partly Spanish. The 
Latin is not always correct or elegant.* But it is more sm-prising^ 
that the Spanish terms and names are corrupted and disfigured in such 
an extraordinary way, that sometimes it is nearly impossible to make 
out what the author means. I will give some instances : 

Espana is called "Hispaia"; the island "S.Miguel," "S. Migel"; 
the island " S. Juan Estevanez," " de Juaninos " ( ? ) ; Bimini is writ- 
ten "binimi"; the "Laguna of Nicaragua," "Lagunade Nicaxagoe." 

The Spanish phrase, which occurs on tlie map, "por aqui no 
puede passar" (here one cannot pass), is written pora qulnopede pasar . 
Another Spanish phrase, " aqui se desembarco Pamlilo de Xaruaez " 
(here landed Pamphilo de Narcaez), is written thus, aqui de san barco 
panfio de narnaez, etc. 
. Such errors furnish strong proof that Cabot had no agency, either in 
writing the map, or correcting it, or in any way superintending its pub- 
lication ; but on the contrary, that some ignorant compiler had copied 
an original manuscript in a very careless manner, and had written, in 
bad Spanish, his construction of the language. Still, in the inscription, 
No. XVII, the map is styled, " a faithful and most learned guide " (fida 
doctissimaque magistra) ! 

The old maps, it is true, often have a quaint style of their own; a 
mixture of Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, etc. ; but such barbarous lan- 
guage and such false orthography as are seen on this map of 1544, are 
never found on the maps of Eibero prior to this date ; nor on the 

• [Chytraeus, in copying these inscriptions, takes care to say, that he does this, " non 
propter latinitatis, qu» non magna est, elegantiam." Varior. in Earopa Itiner. 
Delicia;, p. 599.— Ed.] 



3G4 CABOT'S MAP, 1544. 

Frencli charts some years later, where everything is comparatively 
correct. 

On this map, in the region of Carolina, a tiger-like animal is drawn, 
which, with a sweep of his tail, completely covers up, or brushes out, a 
large section of an important coast. 

It would appear to be incredible, that a distinguished mariner and a 
iiiathematician, hke Cabot, should not have been shocked by such a 
rough and stupid proceeding; and that he should not have corrected 
the draftsman, who could i^refer an elaborate picture of the tuft of a 
tail, to a correct drawing of the coast-line. 

This may suffice for the present in considering the question, how far 
Sebastian Cabot may be regarded as having made this map ; or rather, 
it may serve to show, how utterly improbable it is, that it was either 
originally drawn by him, or executed under his direction or superin- 
tendence. I will now endeavor to analyze the particular contents of 
the fragment of this map, of which we have given a sketch in ISTo. 20. 

In the high north, there is depicted a large tract of country, the coast- 
line of which ends in about 67° 30' N., with the inscription, " costa del 
hues norueste" (coast running west-north-west). This is the latitude 
in which Cabot's voyage of 1498, according to his own statement, ended. 
It appears from ttiis, that it was designed to indicate here the ne plus 
ultra of this voyage. However, in giving this latitude of 67° 30' N., 
he is, at the same time, stated to have said, that there the coast had 
been, for some distance, trending to the east. I have tried to explain 
above, that this coast could have been no other than that of Cumber- 
land Island in Davis' Strait, and that therefore, with Humboldt and 
some other authors, we should look for the termination of Cabot's 
second voyage on the shores of this island. On the other hand, Mr. 
Biddle puts the highest northern latitude reached by Cabot in Fox 
Channel, on the shores of Melville peninsula; while our map puts it on 
the shores of a country which has the form of the Greenland of all the 
early maps,* and makes there the coast turn to the loest-north-west. 
Our map appears, accordingly, to be in contradiction to the statement 
ascribed to Cabot, that, in the high north, he was arrested by a coast 
trending to the east. 

Between that nameless arctic country (Greenland) and the next large 
portion of territory at the south, the present Labrador, the map shows 
a gulf in about 58° N. This gulf, at least in its eastern portion, must 

♦Compare the confij^uration of this arctic country, which is nameless on our map, 
■with the conljguration given to " tierra de Labrador" (Ureealand) on our maps, Nos. 
16 and 19, 



CABOT'S MAP, 1544. 365 

be the beginning of Davis' Sti-ait. It runs on this map, kowevcr, not 
like Davis Strait nortli-nortli-wcst, but nearly due east and west, like 
Hudson's Strait ; nor is it as broad as Davis' Strai,t. This strait, instead 
of opening in the west as a spacious sea like Hudson's Strait, is repre- 
sented as discharging itself in a fresh-water river (rio duce). This de- 
lineation of the entrance of Hudson's Strait does not support the 
opinion of some authors, who have thouglit that Cabot passed tlu-ough 
Hudson's Strait, and discovered the broad open water of Hudson's Bay. 

The great tract of country south of Davis' and Hudson's Straits (Rio 
duce), is a disfigured and conti'acted picture of the present peninsula 
of Labrador, which, with portions of Davis' Strait, was delineated much 
better in 1504, after the chart of Cortereal, as appears on our map 
No. 8. 

In the essay upon this map, No. 8, I have said, that it was very 
creditable to Cortereal to have given so true a picture of the coasts of 
Labrador, Greenland, and Davis' Strait. In comparison with that map, 
we may well ask, is it to be supposed that Cabot, who had twice visited 
the coast of Labrador, and gone high up into Davis' Strait, should, in 
1544, have furnished a chart of those regions so incorrect and imper- 
fect, as the one we are examining? 

Between Labrador and Newfoundland on the south, the Strait of 
Belle Isle, as surveyed by Cartier in 1534, is clearly depicted. The 
cape at its northern entrance, is called " Cabo del gado del mare " * 
(Cape of the Cod-fish) ; and it may interest us to know, that here we 
have another Cape Cod. 

The cape at the southern entrance is called "Cabo de Gamas" (Deer 
Cape), and the numerous islands are arranged in lines, four and four, 
along the south coast of Labrador in a fantastical manner, an unwar- 
rantable invention of the author of the map, having probably no other 
authority than the report of Cartier, " that along this coast were many 
islets." 

The gulf and river St. Lawrence are truly represented according to 
the surveys and reports of Cartier and Roberval, whose charts could 
not have appeared in Europe before 1542. But the French maps of 
the time are more complete and in better style, as is shown in our 
copies, Nos. 18 and 19. In the present maji, the French names are 
sadly changed and corrupted; as for instance, "baya del loreme" ( ? ), 
" Rio de S. quenam " for Cartier's " Riviere du Saguenay," etc. Near 
that part of the river where Cartier puts his " premier sault " (first 
rapids), our map has the corrupted Spanish phrase, "pora quinopede 

♦The map has incorrectly " maro." 



866 CABOT'S MAP, 1544. 

pasar" (here one cannot pass); and some other corrupted names, as 
" tuttonaer," and " estadas." 

Newfoundland is here erroneously broken up into a group of islands 
of various sizes, in accordance with an antiquated notion of this re- 
gion. Cabot would certainly have been better acquainted with New- 
foundland than to have so described it. The names given to it are 
the same as contained on the Cartier ma^js, especially the Portuguese, 
whose orthography the author seems to have adopted. We find no 
names attached to it such as we may suppose Cabot would have given. 
The names " St. Gregor," " Cape of England," etc., on the south of New- 
foundland, which are seen on Cosa's map of 1500, and which Cosa may 
have taken -from the chart of Cabot's first voyage, do not appear at all 
on this map. 

South-west of Newfoundland, Cape Breton and Nova Scotia may be 
recognized. Here, too, occur the famous inscriptions, " prima vista," 
and " prima tierra vista " (the land first seen). These words are evi- 
dently attached to tlie northern point of the island of Cape Breton ; 
and this inscription has led some esteemed authors to designate that 
locality as the part of North America first discovered by the Cabots. 
These learned authors are strengthened in their opinion by the fact, that 
the island which the Cabots discovered near their first land-fall, and 
named Y>^ de S. Juan (St. John), is here placed near this "Prima 
vista," and bears the name given by the Cabots. It is apparently what 
we now call Prince Edward Island. But I will leave this subject at 
present, and return to it hereafter. 

South and west of " Prima vista " and Cape Breton, stretches a long 
line of coast, first in a south-western, and then in nearly a due western 
dii-ection, through thirty degrees of longitude. There can be no doubt 
that this is intended to represent the coast of Nova Scotia and New 
England. On my examination of Cosa's map and for other reasons, I 
came to the conclusion, that Sebastian Cabot, on his voyage of 1498, 
surveyed this coast, and depicted, with much clearness, the Gulf of 
Maine and also Cape Cod on the chart which he brought home, and 
which Cosa copied in 1500. The author of our present map appears 
not to have used this survey of Cabot; but has copied the whole coast- 
line from Ribero's and other Spanish charts, which were themselves 
copied from those of Gomez. For the illustration of Cabot's own 
voyages, this map of 1544 is not as valuable as that of Cosa of 1500. 

But the author of our map, if he copied Ribero and Gomez, has done 
it in a very careless and imperfect manner. He jilaces the entire coast- 
line of Nova Scotia nearly two degrees too far south, and does not 
give so good a view of the Gulf of Maine as that presented in Ribero's 



CABOT'S MAP, 1544. 367 

map ; tlioiigh he has not omitted the lonj:^ chain of small islands, by 
which the coast of Maine is particularly characterized. 

He has inserted upon this coast many Spanish names, principally 
those which were adopted by Ribero from Gomez, though he has omit- 
ted some of them. Four or five of them he gives in duplicate, namely 
the following: " baya de S. Christoval," '' riv de San Antonio," " Rio de 
buena madre," " montagnas," which are placed in the centre of this 
coast-line, and then again in the same manner, and in tlie same order, 
at the west end. This doubling of names can be nothing else than an 
extraordinary blunder, or a mark of great negligence in the prepara- 
tion of the map. We can, therefore, attach but little importance to 
these names as defining localities, and I shall pay but little attention 
to them. 

I will, however, try to designate some of the places passing from east 
to west : 

Along the coast of Kova Scotia some names are placed which I have 
not seen on any other map, as " C. Madabida" ( ?), "baya pequena" (a 
small bay), " rio dabol " ( ?), " cacomedas " ( ?), and after this " rio fon- 
do " (deep river), an oft-recurring name, which probably indicates the 
Bay of Fundy. 

After some other insignificant names appear the following : " rio de 
peros " (river of dogs), and " Costa de Don Marti " (coast of Don Marti), 
which evidently belong to the coast of Maine. I cannot tell from whom 
these new names were obtained by the author of this map. Was it 
from some Spanish visitor, a certain " Don Marti," for instance, un- 
known to us ? 

Jfear " Don Marti " is that large river which Gomez discovered and 
laid down on his map, and which the Spaniards called " Rio de Gamas " 
(Penobscot Bay). It is called on our map " baya fernosa," probably a 
mistake for " baya fermosa" (the beautiful bay). 

Then comes that detestable duplicate of a series of old Spanish 
names of which I have spoken, which here are placed in the centre of 
the coast-line without any authority, and then re^jeated at its west end, 
after the example of Spanish maps. To make room for these names, 
it seems to have been found necessary to give an undue extension to 
the coast-line. This may explain why " Cabo dc niuchas islas " and the 
" arcipelago" (of Gomez) are so far distant from the " beautiful bay." 

Between the " arcipelago " and " C. de muchas islas," we find a " baya 
de S. Maria," which, perhaps, is Saco or Casco Bay. It is filled with 
small islands, and appears to have been added by the maker of the 
map on his own authority. After " arcipelago," we find " Capo de 
arecife " (reef cape), the name which Oviedo seems to have given to 



868 CABOT'S MAP, 1544. 

Cape Cod, but which here is attached to another point not at all prom- 
inent. The names on the map are in such a state of disorder, and 
show so much negligence in the author or copyist, that we have lost 
all confidence in him and his work. 

Then follows " baya de S. Juan Baptista," and the other Spanish 
names found in this region on llibero's and other Spanish maps. 

At the end of the coast-line, near the " baya de S. Christoval," we 
reach the aforesaid tuft of a tiger's tail, which effaces in so shocking a 
manner some thirty miles of the coast. 

In latitude about 40° N"., appears the pointed cape, represented on 
old Spanish maps under the name of " Cabo de Arenas,"' which I 
think was intended for Cape Cod, although the cape is not found in 
that latitude. 

The map contains no trace of the coast of Ehode Island or of New 
York, and no evidence appears that the author knevv anything of that 
excellent description of our east coast given by Oviedo in 1.337, nor of 
the interesting map made by Chaves in 15o(), by command of the 
emperor. "We may thei'efore properly ask again, is it credible that 
Cabot, the chief pilot of Spain, should not have been acquainted in 
1544 with these excellent works ; or that having these in view, he should 
have delineated the coasts in the erroneous and wretched style in 
which they are drawn on this map? 

South of Cape Cod I have selected for our map only a few well-known 
Spanish names. The copy ends at the south-west with the mouth of 
the Mississippi, then called by the Spaniards " rio del espiritu santo." 

I should observe that the term " Terra incognita " is placed on my 
copy a little too far east. On the original it is more west, and even 
runs over from North America to Asia through a blank space left be- 
tween the two continents, of which the author seems to have been 
uncertain, whether they were connected by land or separated by water. 

Besides what I have above described, the map contains a great num- 
ber of long legends or inscriptions, added to the sections of the several 
continents. These inscriptions are not new ; but were well known be- 
fore the i)ublication of this map of 1544. They were copied, with a 
few and unimportant variations, by the German traveler, Nathaniel 
Kochhaf, or, as he is usually called by his Latin name, Chytrasus, from 
another edition of this map of Cabot, which was published in 1540, 
and which was still exhibited at Oxford after the middle of the six- 
teenth century. They were then published by him in his curious and 
often quoted book, " Variorum in Europa itinerum deliciae." From this 
book these iHscriptions, ever since the time of its publication (1594), 



CABOT'S MAP, 1544. 369 

have been known to the learned. They contain nothing new or very 
x'emarkable, even for the time of the composition of the map in 1.544, 
and cannot be considered as an important autliority or source of in- 
formation on the early history of discovery. They repeat, concerning 
Columbus, Cortes, Pizarro, and several other discoverers and conquer- 
ors, only what had already been said many times before. And this is 
done in a very general manner, and in a pedantic style, as if intended 
for the curious, or for the use of schools. From Sebastian Cabot, who 
lived so near the times of these events, and was so prominent an actor 
in them, and was personally acquainted with most of the celebrated 
men named in these inscriptions, it would be reasonable to expect some 
pertinent observations or personal anecdotes regarding these men 
and their performances not found elsewhere, even if they were in the 
most brief and summary form. But we have nothing of the kind in 
these inscriptions. They are of the most meagre character; they con- 
vey no historical or geographical information, such as we should expect 
from the hand of a master, and especially from the great cosmographer 
of his age, which Sebastian Cabot is admitted to have been. On the con- 
trary, the inscriptions are full of legends about sea monsters, people 
with one foot, or one eye, or hnmense ears, in short, all the old fables 
related by Adam of Bremen and other authors of the middle ages. 
The stories may have been believed by Martin Behaim, and perhaps 
also by Columbus, when he was first entering on his cosmographical 
studies in the last half of the fifteenth century. But to see them em- 
braced and reproduced in the middle of the sixteenth century by a 
man so enlightened and ingenious as Sebastian Cabot, would be rather 
astonishing. 

In the inscription "No. VII," where the River La Plata and Cabot's 
expedition to it are described, it is said, that along this river a 
nation had been found which had feet and legs like an ostrich. In 
No. IX, where the waters of Iceland are described, it is related, that 
there had been seen in those waters a fish of the species " morae- 
na," a veritable sea-serpent, and so colossal that it would attack a ves- 
sel and snap up the sailors. " Spectres or ghosts speaking in the air " 
are also mentioned in the inscription on Iceland. But in desci-ibing 
that country, and Newfoundland, and the northern regions generally, 
no allusion whatever is made to a north-west passage, or a route to 
China, the favorite idea of Cabot, cherished through his whole life. 

In the same manner in No. XIX, where the seas sun-ounding Ilussia 
and Siberia are described, nothing is said of a north-eastern passage 
to China, which soon after 1.544, and toward the end of his life, be- 
came a settled conviction of Cabot. The inscription No. XII treat* 
24 



870 . CABOT'S MAP, 1544. 

of a monstrous nation, who have ears so large that they cover the 
whole body. Nothing of this kind occurs in the writings of Fernando 
Cortes, or of Oviedo, who both wrote before the year 1544. 

In the chapters on East India, we hear nothing regarding the history 
of the discoveries of the Portuguese, but very much regarding wid^ 
ows burning themselves with tlieir deceased husbands. And then 
we have an archaeological treatise on the question, where in the world 
(ubi terrarum) the island " Taprobana," so mucli spoken of by the 
ancients, is to be found, and whetlier it is Ceylon, Sumatra, or 
Madagascar. 

What has all this archaeology and mythology to do witli a " marine 
chart" destined for mariners " to sail after? " Ought not a chief pilot, 
like Sebastian Cabot, to have given better sailing directions to the Span- 
ish seamen ? No other chart, pretending to be a Portulano or Derro- 
tero of the sixteenth century, has come to my knowledge, in which 
fables lil^ie tliese have been related, to gratify the curiosity of the com- 
mon mind. 

There is only one subject in all the nineteen inscriptions of the 
map, which appears worthy of Cabot, that is the variation of the mag- 
netic needle, that great discovery of Cabot, which is treated of and 
exi:)lained in the inscription No. XVII. 

Sebastian Cabot is described by Peter Martyr, and others who con- 
versed with him, as an agreeable and modest man. But wherever he 
is mentioned in these inscriptions, it is with some pompous descrip- 
tion like this: "navigandi arte astronomiaque peritissimus " (iu the 
art of navigation and in astronomy the most experienced man). Also 
in the inscription No. XVII, where it is stated that the map was made 
by Sebastian Cabot, he is called " astrorum peritia navigandique arte 
omnium doctissimus" (of all men the most learned in astronomy and 
in the art of navigation). These exi^ressions would appear to go be- 
yond his customary modesty, if we are to believe that it is Cabot him- 
self who here speaks. It looks rather like the recommendation of a 
map-seller, who wishes to procure a large sale, under color of a great 
name; like the speculator, complained of by Humboldt, who had pub- 
lished, against his will, some maps under his name, to which he had 
contributed nothing else. Such also is the following complimentary 
expression fconnected with the above, which runs thus : " Therefore, 
you may use this hydrographical chart as the most faithful and the 
most learned mistress (fida doctissimaque magistra), in sailing to any 
part of the ocean, wherever you should have the mind to sail." I can- 
not, therefore, but concur in the opinion both of Mr. Bancroft and Mr. 
Charles Deane, " that Cabot himself evidently did not wiite these in- 
scriptions." 



CABOT'S ALLEGED VOYAGE OF 1494. 371 

I think I have given in the foregoing analysis, a true description of 
this newly discovered document ; yet some highly respected and dis- 
tinguished geographers, in former as well as in later times, have based 
upon it the theory of a voyage of Cabot, entirely at variance, both in 
regard to the time of its performance, and the point of the continent 
first seen, vrith the opinion usually adopted, and which in this essay I 
have assumed to be correct. 

In the inscrii^tion No. VIII, which treats of Newfoundland, it is said : 
" This country was discovered by John Cabot, a Venetian, and Sebas- 
tian Cabot, his son, in the year of our Lord Jesus Christ M.CCCC.XCIIII 
(1494), on the 24th of June, in the morning at five o'clock, which coun- 
try they called ' priminn visam ; ' and a large island adjacent to it they 
named the island of St. John, because they discovered it on the samo 
day." 

There can be no doubt, that the author or publisher of the map be- 
lieved that a voyage of discovery was really made by Cabot in 1494. 
This date cannot be a misprint, because it is given twice in the inscrip- 
tion, once in the Spanish language, and again in a Latin version. That 
this date had already occurred on former copies or editions of this, or a 
similar, engraved map, ascribed to Cabot, for instance on one in the 
year 1549, is evident from the quotation and copy of the inscriptions 
made by Kochhaf, as before mentioned, who read on the map at Ox- 
ford " the year 1494," and who noted this date in his book. 

The locality of this " primum visam " or " prima terra vista," is given 
on our map of 1544, as I have before stated, at the northern point of 
Cape Breton. 

The same locality appears to have been indicated on another map of 
Cabot, so called, existing in the sixteenth century in England. For a 
map composed by Michael Lok, in 1582 (our No. 13), has the name of 
" J. Cabot," and the " year 1497 " annexed to Cape Breton, which he 
is supposed to have copied from a map of Cabot in England. These 
maps not having been preserved, we have no means of judging of their 
authenticity or vahie. 

But in regard to the character and worth of the maj) of 1544, recently 
found, I have clearly expressed my opinion, that it is full of errors, in- 
accuracies, and misrepresentations, wliich being made so near to the oc- 
currences described, are wholly unpardonable. They did not exist on 
prior maps, and are convincing testimony that they could not have 
been the work of Sebastian Cabot. These faults must destroy the au- 
thority of this document for the establishment of any historical fact. 

But as some eminent and esteemed geographers entertain a differ- 
ent opinion, I may be allowed to submit some remarks, not founded on 



372 CABOT'S ALLEGED VOYAGE OF 1494. 

the document referred to, but derived from other sources, on the prob- 
ability of a voyage liaving been made by Cabot at the date 1494, and of 
Cape Breton having been liis first land-fall. 

1. Sebastian Cabot is stated to have said, that he and his father, with 
the people of Bristol, and the court of Henry VII, were greatly excited 
by the glorious news just received in England, of the great discovery 
by Columbus, who arrived in Lisbon, from his first successful voyage, 
in March, 1493. The " news of his success " would come somewhat 
later to England. If Cabot had discovered the continent of North 
America on June 24, 1494, he must have sailed early in the spring of 
that year. In that case there would scarcely have been a full year for 
arousing the cautious Henry and the Bristol men to action, and 
the Cabots to study the subject and make their arrangements for the 
voyage. This is a very short time, particularly if we take into consid- 
eration, that after having received their letters i^atent and commission, 
in the beginning of the year 1496, the Cabots were delayed a Avhole 
year before they were able to commence their voyage. 

2. The Bristol men are said by the Spanish envoy, Don Pedro de 
Ayala, in a letter to Spain written in 1498, to have made, at the instiga- 
tion of the Cabots, exploring expeditions every year, for nearly seven 
years, to discover new countries in the west. If a great country had 
already been found there in 1494, it would have been quite unneces- 
sary for the Cabots to persuade the Bristol men to continue these ex- 
ploring expeditions after that time. 

3. Sebastian Cabot is said, on good authority,* to have been born in 
the year 1477; consequently in the beginning of 1494, he would have 
been but about sixteen or seventeen years of age. What geographical 
knowledge or reliable opinions could a boy of this age have ? How 
far could he assist liis fatlier on a dangerous naval expedition to the 
unknown west, and in command of a ship? Would it not have been 
presumptuous in him if, at such an age, he had accompanied his father 
in 1494, to say : The continent of North America was discovered by my 
father Giovanni and by me ! — a boy sixteen years of age ! 

4. The first or prelimi nay y exploring expeditions for discovery were 
generally short excursions ; and for good reasons, such as the uncertain 
nature of the projects, and consequently the difficulty of obtaining the 
requisite means of conducting them. Tliey usually commenced such 
voyages with one or two light and small sliips ; and after having made 
a discovery, or even obtained a distant glimpse of some new country, 
they were eager to return and proclaim their success, and to obtain a 

♦Among otliers, by Humboldt. 



CABOT'S ALLEGED VOYAGE OF 1494. 373 

reward, and a larger outfit for more thorough explorations. We ob- 
serve, therefore, that in the history of discovery, the first exploring 
expeditions continued but a very short time; whilst in the second un- 
dertaking, a large fleet and more ample supplies have enabled the ad- 
venturers to remain longer abroad, and to make more thorough sur- 
veys. But if we adopt the year 1494 for the first exploring voyage 
of the Cabots, we find that in the two subsequent years, 149.5 and 
149G, no voyage at all was performed ; and that in 1497, what would 
then be their second voyage, was a very small undertaking with 
only one little vessel, the Matthew, from which they returned quickly 
after an absence of only three months. Such inactivity iu the Cabots, 
the king, and the Bristol men, after the apparently great success of 
1494, with the small outfit and quick return in 1497, Avould be per- 
fectly out of analogy with the usual course of things, and wholly un- 
accountable. If, on the contrary, rejecting the theory which supposes 
a voyage to have been made in 1494, we come to the conclusion, that 
the first successful exploring expedition was conducted in 1497, and 
that the great expedition of 1498, for which Sebastian Cabot was fur- 
nished with several ships and three hundred men, with which he ex- 
plored a tract of coast of more than one thousand leagues in length, 
and from which he returned after more than half a year's absence, was 
not his third, but his second undertaking, then everything is clear and 
in harmony with the usual and natural course of events. 

5. A part of the above reasoning affects the locality, as well as the 
date, given on our map to the first discovery of North America. But 
there are other circumstances which appear to make this local- 
ity particularly doubtful. The northern point of Cape Breton, which 
on our map is made the " Prima tierra vista," lies in a position 
somewhat secluded and hidden. It is the southern cape of the com- 
paratively narrow entrance to the Gulf of St. Lawrence. It has east of it 
the long southern coast of Newfoundland, and several points and sec- 
tions of the coast of Nova Scotia and Cape Breton. It would require 
considerable skill in a navigator coming from England, to make his first 
land at the mouth of the Gulf of St. Lawrence, Avithout sighting New- 
foundland, Nova Scotia, or Cape Breton Island. This could not have 
happened in one case out of a hundred. And even if this had occurred 
to the Cabots, their " prima vista " would not probably have been the 
northern point of Cape Breton, but the small island of St. Paul near 
it, which is generally the first land made by sailors entering the Gulf 
of St. Lawrence. 

G. The entrance of the Gulf of St. Lawrence has about the same lat- 
itude as the south of England. The beaten track for the Bristol navi- 



374 CABOT'S ALLEGED VOYAGE OF 1494, 

gators was the route to Iceland. The Cabots are said from the beginning 
to have directed their attention to tlie north-west on tliat route. The 
supposition that on a voyage in 1494 to tlie nortli-west from Bristol they 
made their land-fall in 47° N. (the latitude of the northern headland of 
Cape Breton Island), would involve the supposition, that on the alleged 
voyage they had been driven from their intended course by severe 
storms into a more southern latitude. A land-fall and a "prima 
vista " on the shores of northern Newfoundland or Labrador, accord- 
ing to our supposition, is much more in harmony with the intentions 
of the Cabots, and the direction of their route. 

7. If it is difficult to carry the Cabots into the southern entrance of 
the Gulf of St. Lawrence in 1494, it is just as difficult to bring them out 
again. If, in this year, they entered the gulf, they must have seen open 
water before them at the west, north, and south-west, and have been 
tempted to sail that way, and to explore the entire gulf to find a pas- 
sage to their desired Cathay. But we find neither in their reports of 
their voyage, nor in the charts belonging to it, the least trace of a large 
opening or gulf. If to this it should be answered, that the voyage of 
1494 was not an expedition for finding a north-west passage, but only 
a hazardous exploring exi^edition without a certain fixed aim, even in 
this case, the Cabots would not have forgotten, on a future voyage, the 
open water at their " terrain primiim visam " on the northern headland 
of Cape Breton. And Sebastian Cabot, on his voyage of 1498, which is 
an admitted search for a north-west and west passage, on descending 
from his high latitudes, and rounding Newfoundland, would, without 
doubt, have entered again this opening, seen in 1494, and would have 
more carefully explored it. But he did nothing of the kind. On the 
contrary he sailed along the entire east coast of North America, always 
looking out for open water to the west, without finding it. 

If it should be suggested, that on this voyage he was hindered from 
further exploration by storms, fogs, or other obstacles, still he must have 
remembered this opening at other times in his long life. If he himself 
had no opportunity to visit it again, he would certainly have described it 
to Gomez in 1525, and directed him to explore it for a western passage, 
to find which was the principal object of his voyage. But in the re- 
ports of this voyage of Gomez, we have no trace whatever of the 
Gulf of St. Lawrence. Gomez passed it without looking into it. In 
fact, throughout the entire first quarter of the sixteenth centu- 
ry, the Gulf of St. Lawrence, and more particularly the principal en- 
trance to it, which the Cabots are said to have found in 1494, was so 
little known, except perhaps by Portuguese and French fishermen, 
that even Cartier, in 1534, appears to have been ignorant of it. He en- 



CABOT'S ALLEGED VOYAGE OP 1494. 375 

tered the Gulf of St. Lawrence through the Strait of Belle Isle, and, 
sailing out from it through the principal southern entrance in 1535, con- 
sidered this to be a new discovery. 

Ortelius, as I have before stated, when in 1570 he prepared his cele- 
brated map of America, had seen a map of the world made by Sebas- 
tian Cabot. On his map Ortelius laid down an island on the coast of 
Labrador called St. John, in about 57° N. He did not give that name 
to Prince Edward Island. Now if Ortelius had seen, on his map of Ca- 
bot, the names " St. John " and " Prima vista " affixed to the northern 
point of Cape Breton and to Prince Edward Island, as represented on 
our map No. 20, I think he would have taken notice of them, and intro- 
duced them on his map. But not having done this, we infer that he 
did not find them on his map of Cabot, which, in other respects, also 
may have been different from ours. 

Any argument to prove that Cape Breton was Cabot's " Prima vista," 
from the adjacent Prince Edward Island having been called St. John, 
may be dismissed at once. The name " St. John " was also given to 
Prince Edward Island by the French, and Cabot may have taken it, 
not from his own survey, but from French maps, from which he also 
took the whole configuration of the gulf and river of St. Lawrence. 

8. Cabot, the alleged author of this map, in the inscription No. V., 
speaking of his discovery of the first land on his first voyage, says " this 
country is sterile," and " has an abundance of white bears," and othe r 
wild animals, which he describes. This applies much better to the coast 
of Labrador, than to any part of Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, or Prince Ed- 
ward Island. At the sight of these countries in the month of June, 
the Cabots would have been more struck by the abundance of their 
trees, and their fresh green aspect, than by their sterility. And con- 
cerning the " abundance of white bears," they are rarely seen south 
of the St. Lawrence. 

9. The Venetian mere bant, Lorenzo Pasqualigo, who in Cabot's 
time was living in London, in a letter to Venice, dated August 23, 1497, 
speaking as an eye-witness of the return of John Cabot from his 
voyage of this year, describes his reception as follows : " Vast honour 
is paid to him ; " he is styled " the Great Admiral," " he dresses in 
silk ; " and adds, " these English run after him like mad people, so 
that he can enlist as many of them as he pleases, and a number of our 
own rogues besides."* 

According to the opinion of those who contend for the voyage of 

• See this letter reprinted in Proceedings of the annual meeting of tlie American 
Antiquarian Society, Oct. 21, 1865. Mr. Hale's report, p. 21. Cambridge, 18tJG. 



376 CABOT'S ALLEGED VOYAGE OF 149L 

1494, and the great discovery made at that time, the above description 
of John Cabot's recei:)tion must refer to a second voyage. Now if 
John Cabot made such a sensation among the English on his return 
from his second voyage, when he coukl have exhibited no other results 
than had been already obtained on his first voyage, what reception 
would they have given him on his return from his first voyage, when 
the decisive and great discovery was made, which revealed to his mind 
the eastern headlands of " the country of the Great Chan ? " That 
event and tlie year 1494, would not have been forgotten by them, and 
would have been a marked one in their annals. But we hear of no 
such announcement or reception whatever in that year. No foreign 
ambassador, no English annalist has made any report of a sensation 
created by the return of a discoverer in 1494 ; while all our reports, and 
the notices of foreigners as well as Englishmen, about the Cabots, 
refer to the years 1497 and 1493, except those wretched charts of 1544 
and 1549. The great sensation of 1497 can therefore refer to nothing 
else but to a first success. 

10. Many of my objections to the date and locality of the first dis- 
covery of the continent of America, contained on this map of 1544, 
are founded on the conviction, that Cabot could have had very little 
to do with this document. But even if this position should prove false, 
if Sebastian Cabot really examined and appi-oved the contents of the 
map, and furnished to the engraver the date and locality in question ; 
still it would not be safe to adopt them against all the opposing authori- 
ties. It has been suggested by Asher, that Cabot, in 1544 and 1549, was 
already an old man, and may have been of feeble memory ; * and in 
speaking of events which had taken place in his early youth, half a cen- 
tury before, he may have made erroneous statements. Several of his 
statements, made during his life, were contradictory to each other. He 
stated, for instance, to the English Eden, that he had been born 
in Bristol, and at another time to the Yenetian Contarini, that his 
birth-place was Venice. Every day's experience teaches us, that we 
all, with respect to the dates of events in our own lives, are very apt 
to make blunders. Humboldt quotes both Christopher and Bartholo- 
mew Columbus as having made erroneous statements with respect to 
dates of their own voyages.! 

From these considerations I repeat, that the voyage of 1494, and the 
locality of the "prima vista" in Cape Breton, ai)pear to me to be 

♦Asher's Hudson, p. Ixviii. 

tSee Humboldt, Kritisclie Untersucbuugen, vol. 3, p. 145. 




Fold-out 
Placeholder 



This fold-out is being digitized, and will be inserted at ■< 

future date. 




Fold-out 
Placeholder 



This fold-out is being digitized, and will be inserted 

future date. 



DIEGO HOMEM'S CHART, 1558. 377 

doubtful; though I will not pretend to speak decisively on the subject. 
The materials, documents, and authorities for judging on all the ques- 
tions connected with the voyages of the Cabots, are so scanty and 
meagre, and the whole matter is so difficult and intricate, that the time 
to speak i)ositively about them has not yet come. Every year, in recent 
times, has contributed evidence to complete or correct some point of 
their history ; and further researches in the archives of Europe will 
undoubtedly throw more light upon this obscure subject.* 



5. On Ciiakt, No. 21, of the nobth-eA.st of Nortii America, by 
Diego Homem, a Portuguese, ix 1558. 

Diego IToniem was one of those distinguished Portuguese map- 
makers of the middle of the sixteenth century, of whom Dr. Asher says, 
" that they were privileged individuals, who received from the arriving 
explorers such new communications as might serve to correct the 
charts, and who made admirable use of their opportunities." " Such 
men," he adds, "as De la Cosa, Sebastian Cabot, Pdbero, and Homem, 
are among the Spanish and Portuguese chart-makers." t 

Homem composed sevei'al maps of the world, sea-atlases and " portu- 
lanos," which are still preserved in the collections of Germany, Eng- 
land, and France. In these works he depicted America at different 
periods, and in different ways. We know little of his birth, life, 
or death. Though a Portuguese by birth, he appears to have re- 
sided at Venice during a large i^art of his life, where several of his 
maps api>ear to have been composed and dated. The Venetians' 
envious of the Spaniards, Portuguese, and other nations of the west of 
Europe, watched with eagerness the progress of their discoveries. The 
Venetian ambassadors, on all sides, sent home reports of all new suc- 
cesses in this direction. Several of the first discoverers and sea-cap- 
tains, employed by other nations, were Italians, who frequently re- 
turned home after their expeditions. The Cabots had emigrated from 
Venice. Eamusio, one of the first and most eminent collectors of 
original reports of voyages and discoveries, lived in Venice, and there 
published his works. Several of the earliest maps of America were 
printed in Venice. Here, therefore, was a favored center of geographi- 
cal intelligence; and Homem was probably attracted by these circum- 
stances to that city. 

♦Sec the most just and modest pxpressions on this point made by M. D'Avezao in 
" Bulletin de la soci(5te de G^ographie," p. 233 seq. Decembro-Juillet, AnB6e, 1857. 

t See Dr. Asher's Introduction to " Henry Hudson, the Navigator," edited by tha 
Hakluyt Society, p. cl. London, 1860. 



378 DIEGO HOMiEM'S CHAET, 1558. 

The representation of the north-eastern portions of America, given 
in No. 31, is contained in a large and beautiful atlas made, as an 
inscription on one of the sheets informs us, by Diego Homem in 
1558.* This interesting work has been preserved in the manuscript 
collections of the British Museum, under the signature, " Addenda, 
No. 5415 A." The atlas is often quoted by Dr. Major.t It is a beautiful 
production, and, in many respects, very interesting to the history of 
discovery. 

The section which we give here has some features not to be found 
on other maps, and some indications of discoveries perfectly new at 
the time when the map was composed. 

I will now describe the map and explain its contents, beginning at 
the north-east, and proceeding to the south-west. 

In the north-east corner of our sketch, the south of Greenland is de- 
picted with the same accuracy in regard to its outlines, as in the first 
Portuguese charts, drawn soon after the voyages of Gaspar Cortereal; 
as appears, for instance, on our map No. 8. It ends in the south, not 
far from 60° N., the true position of Cape Farewell. It is called "Terra 
agricule" (the country of the laborer, or Labrador). I have before ob- 
served, that this name is often given to Greenland on very old maps, 
and was afterwards transferred to the present Labrador. 

In the highest northern quarters, above the name " Terra agi-icule," 
we find the name " Desertum busor," probably " busorum," the " desert 
of the Busi." In the northern regions of Europe and Asia, the old ge- 
ographers and map-makers of the middle ages had placed tlie deserts 
of fabulous nations, which afterwards were carefully transferred to the 
desert countries of the new world, where they were sought for, and 
sometimes thought to be found. A people called " Busi " is mentioned 
by the old historian, Adam of Bremen, in chapter 223 of his Eccle- 
siastical- History ; where, speaking of the countries north of the Baltic, 
he enumerates all tlie nations said to exist there : " the Amazons, most 
beautiful women, who live without men;" "the Cynocephali, who 
have the head in the midst of their breast, bark like dogs, and are 
often seen as captives among the Russians ; " " the Albani, who, on 
their birth, are grey-haired and white, like old men;" and many other 
monsters "often met with by navigators," among them the "Busi," 
who " being pale-yellow or somewhat greenish, are so called from their 
color." f Like other fabulous nations, these "Busi" were transi)lanted 

*" Diegus Homem, cosmocraplius fecit hoc opus anno saliitis, 1C58." 

tSee p. Ixiii of liis Introduction to "Early voyages to Terra Australis." 

*Soe Adanii Bromensis liistor. Eccl., p. 139. Lugd. Batav., 1595. Dn Fresno, in his 

"Glossarium medi.TS et infimx Latinitatis," translates "busus" or "busius," by the 

old Saxon "Gealu," "gelvus," "helvus," meaning yellowish. 



DIEGO HOMEM'S CHART. 1558. 379 

to America. So fur as color is concerned, the name may be properly 
applied to the Esquimaux of Greenland. 

South-west of Greenland is indicated the entrance to Davis' and 
Hudson's Straits, in 00° N., to which the Portuguese had been con- 
ducted in the course of their discoveries. Having observed whales in 
that region (one is represented swimming about in the locality of 
Hudson's Bay), they naturally concluded that there must be a largo 
body of water lying in the west. 

At the entrance of these straits, in 00° N., Hes " I. da fortuna," 
probably identical with the " y. da tormento," or the " y. de la tor- 
menta" (island of storms), which is placed on the map of Keinel 
(No. 9), and the map of Ribero (No. 10), adjacent to it. It is, per- 
haps, "Resolution Island," and was probably discovered by Gaspar 
Cortereal, or some other Portuguese. " The Portuguese, after the 
time of the Cortereals," says Dr. Asher,* " continued their surveys of 
the northern coast ; most likelj^ for no other purpose than to discover 
advantageous fisheries. They seem to have advanced slowly, step by 
step. . . . With the ancient maps, we can trace their progi-ess. In 1544, 
they seem not yet to have reached the moutli of Hudson's Strait. In 
1558 (the date of our chart of Homem), their geographical knowledge 
extends beyond the mouth of the strait." 

Tlie names of places on the east coast of Labrador and Newfound- 
land, are generally Portuguese, with the exception of a few French 
names about the Strait of Belle Isle. The west coast of Newfound- 
land is left undefined. Homem must have overlooked or ignored the 
fact, that Cartier sailed along this coast, and made an actual survey of 
it in 15.34. 

The south coast of Labrador has French names, taken from the 
charts or reports of Cartier, and presents numerous small islands, 
more than are actually there. But Cartier, in his report, said exj)ressly, 
that they were numberless, and so the map-makers depicted them. 
The whole draft of the Gulf of St. Lawrence is necessarily taken from 
Cartier, tliough our Portuguese author has badly changed and cor- 
rupted the names of his French original. 

Our author appears to have had a great passion for islands, and a 
strong belief in north-west passages, from the Atlantic to the Western 
Ocean. He cuts up the whole of northern New France into large 
islands, and converts several branches of the St. Lawrence into sea- 
channels and straits. He puts down a strait in every place where 
Cartier, in his report, had said he had looked for one, even if he did 

•In his Introduction to Henry Hudson, etc., p, xcvi. 



380 DIEGO HOMEM'S CHART, 1558. 

not find it. Thus lie makes the "Bay of Chaleiu'" long and open, as 
Cartier supposed it would prove to be. He also represents, on the 
northern as well as the southern side of the mouth of the St. Law- 
rence River, certain straits which Cartier said he had looked for in 
vain. He describes the whole country north-west of this river as very 
narrow, and intersected by channels ; probably on the representation 
of Cartier, that the Saguenay, and other feetlers of the St. Lawrence, 
were very deej} at their mouths, and frequented by whales. This part 
of the map well illustrates a passage in Ramusio, in which his lan- 
guage corresponds with the representations of the map, namely: 
" From the reports of Cartier, we are not clear as yet, whether New 
France is continuous with the terra firma of the provinces of Florida 
and New Spain, or whether it is all cut up into islands; and whether 
through these parts, one can go to the province of Cataio, as was 
written to me many years ago by Master Sebastian Cabot, our Ven- 
etian."* As this work was printed in Venice in 1550, Homem had 
probably read and thoroughly pondered this passage. 

He has changed the great lake of fresh-water, of which the Indians 
spoke to Cartier, into salt-water. In the great sea, depicted upon his 
map in the north and west of New France, and called by him " Mare 
leparamantium," there appears to be a combination of the notions or 
reports on Hudson's Bay, which the Portuguese had gained near the 
above-mentioned " I. da fortuna," and of the reports on the great 
North American lakes, given by the Indians to Cartier at the rapids of 
the St. Lawrence, near Montreal. 

I have not been able to ascertain the meaning or etymology of the 
name " Mare leparamantium," nor to find it on any other map ; and, 
therefore, think it may be introduced like other mythical names, as 
" Desertum Busorum," or be some sea-monster that I have not seen 
mentioned elsewhere. The beginning of this word " ieparamantium," 
seems something like the famous German " Lebersee," t mentioned 
by Adam von Bremen, in the chapter in which he speaks of the " De- 
sertum Busorum." 

In the central part of the map, south of the Gulf of St. Lawrence, 
and south-west of Newfoundland, Homem delineates a large peninsula, 
similar to the territory of Nova Scotia, but of larger extent. The pen- 
insula terminates at the north-east in a cape called " C. de bertoens" 
(Cape of the Bretons), and at the south-west in a rectangular cor- 

* Ramusio, Discourse at tlie beginning of tlie third.volume of liis Collections, fol. 4. 
Venice, 155G. 
tSee OH this word, Humboldt, Kritische Untersucliangen, vol. 1, pp. G3, 402, 404. 



DIEGO HOMEM'S CHART, 1558. 381 

ner and cape, to which is given tlie name "beu sablom" (Sable Bay) 
Cape Sable is probably intended. Between these two points, the south- 
ern coast of the peninsula runs east-north-cast and west-south-west, 
agreeing exactly with the coast of Nova Scotia, which is undoubtedly 
meant. The names annexed to it, " Kibera de S. Joam," " Ribera gram," 
" Ribera de jardins," and the rest, are partly Portuguese and partly 
French ; but the greater part are not found on other maps. 

At " beu sablom " the coast turns north at a right angle, like the 
coast of jSTova Scotia, in latitude about 43° 30' N. After some distance 
comes a group of islands, which may be those at the entrance of the Bay 
of Fundy, "Brier I.," "Long I.," "Grand Menan," etc., -though these 
last are much further south than those without names on tliis map. 
Beyond this group of islands, two branches of a gulf extend northerly 
toward the Bay of Chaleur, but their termination is undefined and rep- 
resented as unknown. I think that this is intended for the Bay of 
Fundy, and is the first attempt to depict it. 

Ilomem does not mention the sources from which he derived his 
sketch of Nova Scotia; but it is apparent that he had for models good 
French or Portuguese charts taken from actual survey, especially for 
its south coast and western end. It is better drawn than on any chart 
previous to 1558, or on any subsequent to it for many years. It is bet- 
ter than the celebrated map of Mercator in 1569, as in our map. No. 22, 
or that of Ortelius in 1570. We may justly call it an improvement on 
the map of Gastaldi (No. 11), which was the commencement of a more 
accurate representation of Nova Scotia, and was copied from similar, 
but older and poorer materials than this map of Homcm. 

None of the great official explorers, so far as I know, had surveyed 
or described Cape Sable or the Bay of Fundy. Neither Verrazano nor 
Gomez make any allusion to them in their reports ; and Cartier and 
Roberval did not go so far south. No doubt the Breton and Norman 
fishermen extended the discoveries of those great official explorers into 
this region (in the same manner and for the same pui-pose that the Por- 
tuguese fishermen did those of the Cortereals northerly toward Hud- 
son's Bay), and as I have said in my description of Gastaldi's map (No. 
11), probably had their harbors of refuge on the coast of Nova Scotia. 
The fishing has always been very good along this whole peninsula, par- 
ticularly at Cape Sable, where, in former, as in modern times, an abun- 
dance of cod-fish has been found.* North of Cape Sable, also, along the 
coast toward the Bay of Fundy, the fishing has always been produc- 

*See D<5nys, "Description gt5ographique de rAmorique septentrionals," torn. 1, p. 
«3, Paris, 1672; and Haliburton's Nova Scotia, vol. 1, pp. 189, 190, Halifax, 1829. 



382 DIEGO HOMEM'S CHART, 1558. 

tive. Cape Sable is, in many respects, a most prominent object; being 
situated at tlie extreme point of a large tract of country, and rendered 
remarkable by its sandy beaches, quite unusual in Nova Scotia, and its 
" white cliffs distinguishable at a distance of five leagues." * If such a 
prominent point were overlooked by official explorers, it would not es- 
cape the observation of the numerous fishermen searching for their 
prey ; and would become famous among them. This cape, as we learn 
from our map, had received its name before 1558, derived from its sandy 
cliffs and banks. And the other names along the coast of Nova Scotia 
were not the inventions of Homem, but taken from the best authori- 
ties,' and from the information and charts of the fishermen, as can be 
proved regarding some of them. Many of them have retained their 
place from that day to this. Where Ilomem, for instance, puts the 
name "golfo de petis " (a name half Portuguese and half French, 
which probably should be "petits"), we find on subsequent maps of 
Nova Scotia, " La petite Pdviure," and on quite modern charts the name 
" Petits Island," a little east of Cape Negro. And not far from the 
place whore Ilomem has put " la beau bai " (probably " la belle baye "), 
we find on modern maps the name " Port Joli," which has the same 
signification. 

But on the west coast of Nova Scotia, Ilomem does not appear to be 
so well informed as on the south coast ; his latitudes are too high, and 
the configuration of the coast is misshapen. It seems as if he followed 
here the uncertain reports of fishermen or of Indians. In the long 
nameless lagoon, which he puts at some distance north of " beu sablom " 
(Cape Sable), we may recognize " St. Mary's Bay," which has nearly 
the same size and extent. North of this, after a group of islands 
(Grand Menan, (?) etc.), the upper part of the gulf is divided into 
two arms, extending into the interior of the country, terminating our 
author does not know how or where, and therefore leaves them unfin- 
ished. I think that here the two branches of the Bay of Fundy, at its 
easterly end, are intended, namely. Mines' Basin and Chignecto Bay, 
although on the map their location is too far north, toward the Bay 
of Chaleur. Still the map indicates that as early as 1558, the Portu- 
guese and French fishermen, those pioneers of north-eastern discov- 
ery, had found their way to the interior of the Bay of Fundy; a fact 
which might have been anticipated, without such proof. 

And the reason that we do not find this remarkable bay distinctly 
laid down on maps of the sixteenth century is, not that it was unfre- 
quented by these fishing pioneers, but that geographers were ignorant 

« See Xlaliburton, 1. c. 



DIEGO HOMEM'S CHART, 1558. 383 

of those sources from which Ilomcm chew his information, and from 
the loss of many early maj^s on which it may have been represented. 

The old French name lirst given to this bay, " La Baye Franroise," 
had no doubt been in use among the French fishermen, although 
De Monts and Poutrincourt thought, when they entered it in 1004, that 
they were making a new discovery. In placing this name on their maps, 
they probably did nothing new, but only confirmed what was already 
in use.* The draft which they made of it was, however, not much 
better than that made by Diego Homem in 15u8.t 

From Nova Scotia and the east coast of the Bay of Fundy, which is 
by far the most interesting part of our map, I now proceed to examine 
the coasts west and south-west of Nova Scotia. And to make the ex- 
amination more intelligible, I will begin at Florida, in the south, where 
we find points and places long before delineated on Spanish maps, as 
"C. de St. Ellena," "C. de S. Roman," and, in 37° N., the "B. de Sta. 
Maria" (Chesapeake). Between this and the next inlet, a peninsula is 
formed, which in its configuration is much like a prolongation of the 
peninsulas of Delaware and New Jersey. The " Cabo de arenas "is 
about in the latitude of Cape llenlopen. North of the inlet at " C. de- 
serto " and near the " B. de St. Jago," the coast begins to turn to the 
east for about ninety leagues, quite well agreeing with the description 
■\jrhich Oviedo gave of this part of the coast before the middle of the 
sixteenth century, according to the chart of Chaves. I think, there- 
fore, that Ilomem must have had before him this chart, which unhap- 
pily we have not.J 

Arriving at a very prominent point, near which is written the name 
" C. de las muchas islas," the coast abruj^tly turns to the north, form- 
ing a large peninsula, i-esembling that of New England. The prom- 
inent cape near the above name I suppose to be Cape Cod. The con- 
figuration of the coast is correctly drawn ; but the name of the cape 
appears to be misplaced ; for Oviedo says clearly enough, that Cape 
Cod was called '• Cabo de arrecifes " (Cape of the reefs), and he puts the 
" Cape of many islands " much further to the north on the coast of 
Maine, as do llibero and all the old maps.§ 

*Lescarbot, Histoire de la Nouvelle France, p. 454 seq. Paris, 1612. 

tSee this map in Lescarbot, 1. c. 

Z See our remarks on Oviedo's description, and tlic map of Cbaves, Appendage to 
chap. VIII, Kg. 2. 

§ [From the fact that on the old maps referred to, the name " C, de las muchas 
islas," is placed north of " Cabo de arrecifes" (Cape Cod); that is, on a part of the 
Gulf of Maine, and would therefore be misplaced on the map under examination, if 
put on or south of Cape Cod, we are led to suggest whether, contrary to the first appear- 



384 MERCATOR'S MAP, 15C9. 

Beyond Cape Cod the coast runs far north, and is bordered all along 
by a chain of small islands, and indented with large inlets; and is 
clearly to be distinj^uished as the coast of the Gnlf of Maine. Over 
this whole peninsula of New England the flag of Spain is spread. 

The large gulf, which in this manner is formed between Nova Scotia 
and Cape Cod, must be taken to be the Gulf of Maine, extending in 
the north into the Bay of Fundy. The entrance to the gulf is too 
narrow, the distance between " ben sablom"(Cape Sable) and " C. de 
las muclias islas " being far too short. 

We may sum up the chief results, gained from an examination of 
Homem's map, which, in connection with our subject, is the most in- 
teresting we can produce from the middle of the sixteenth century, in 
the following brief terms : 

The coast of the Gulf of Maine is here represented much more truly, 
trending toward the north ; while on neai'ly all former maps it is in- 
correctly made to run east and west. 

The peninsula of New England, for the first time, has its true con- 
figuration; though the names added to it are incorrectly given. 

The Bay of Fundy is here indicated for the first time, though only 
by a few uncertain lines ; sufficient to show quite clearly, that it was 
known to, and visited by, French and Portuguese fishermen before the 
middle of the sixteenth century. 

The great country of Nova Scotia, adjoining Maine on the east, is 
here for the first time correctly delineatCLl; especially Cape Sable, 
whose name, with its vicinity, was already well known. 

6. Oj^ a Cn.vuT, No. 22, of the East Coast of North America, 
FROM A Map of the World by Gerard Mercator, in 1569. 
Gerard Mercator, whose German family name was " Kramer,"* was 
born in 1512, of German parents, at Riiijelmundo in Belgium, wliere his 
mother was on a visit to her friends. He spent his childhood in the 
Duchy of Jiilich in Germany, which he regarded as the home of his 
family.t He studied mathematics, history, and geography with the 
greatest zeal at Luwen, where tlie learned German cosmographer, 

ance, it may not be really intended by Homem for one of the projecting points on the 
coast of Maine to which it may be most appropriately applied, either to Cape Eliza- 
beth or Owl's Head, each of which is remarkable for its numerous islands.— Ed.] 

* Not " Kaufmann " as some have said. 

t Mercator says this of himself in the dedication of his great atlas (edit. 1585) to the 
Duke of Jiilich. The dedication is prefixed to the map of France. 




^ tr ^ "^ 



Fold-out 
Placeholder 



This fold-out is being digitized, and will be inserted at i 

future date. 




i^ ir 



Fold-out 
Placeholder 



This fold-out is being digitized, and will be inserted: 

future date. 



MERCATOR'S MAP.. 15G9. 385 

Gemma Frisius, was his teacher. He acquired tlie art of engraving 
and making scientific instruments. TIius qualified, he gave nearly his 
whole life to geograi^hy and map-making. 

The first map of Mercator, as of many other composers of maps, was 
one of Palestine; the second, of Belgium. His next attempt was to 
make a terrestrial and a celestial globe. Hut being a Protestant he be- 
came involved in trouble with the Spanish government of Belgium, 
and emigrated, with other citizens of the country, soon after 1552, to 
Duisburg, on the lower Rhine in Germany, where he settled under the 
protection of the Duke of Jiilich, " natural master," as he calls him, 
of his parents and himself. He continued to reside there, with his nu- 
merous family, till his death in 1594, always occupied in the study of 
geography, the composition of maps, and the construction of mathe- 
matical instruments for the emperor, and other prominent persons.* 

After much study and reading he comi)leted, in Duisburg in 1509, 
that great and much admired map of the world, in which he combined, 
in one grand view, upon eight large sheets, all his geographical knowl- 
edge of the globe. This map, with the assistance of three sons, his 
pupils, he not only drew, but also engraved. It was considered at the 
time as a wonderful work, and was the foundation of his fame as a 
cosmographer. 

For the composition of this great map, Mercator had collected many 
printed and manuscript maps and charts, and many reports of voyages 
of discovery. These he carefully studied and compared, selecting 
from them those only which he thought the most reliable. He gave to 
his map a new projection of his own invention, and one extremely con- 
venient to navigators, which, ever since, has been called from him, 
" Mercator's Projection." This useful and ingenious invention was 
applied for the first time on the chart here introduced ; and although 
for a century it encountered opposition by its novelty from ignorant 
navigators, it came at last into general use on sea charts; and its ad- 
vantages are now generally acknowledged and adopted. 

* Ilespecting his life and works, see Lelowel, " G(?ographie du moyen age," torn. 2, 
p. 181, Bruxelles, 1852; and Gualterius Gimmius, "Vita GerardiMorcatoris," in Mer- 
cator's atlas. Duisburgi, 1595. A very excellent life of Mercator has Been written by 
Dr. A. Breusing, a distinguished mathematician and geographer in Bremen, who had 
the kindness to lend me his manuscript, which will soon be published, and from which 
I have chiefly taken the above facts. Dr. Breusing clearly proves, that Mercator was 
a German, and that he regarded himself as such, and not a Belgian, »s has been incor- 
rectly stated by many former writers. M. D'Avesiac, the admirable French author, 
agrees with Dr. Breusing, and calls Mercator "lo Grand GtSographe Allemand" (the 
great German geographer). See DAvezac, " Coup d'oeil historique sur la projection 
des cartes de G<?ographie," p. 10. 

25 



386 MERCATOR'S MAP, 1569. 

By this invention, and this large chart of 15G9, Mercator became emi- 
nent, and was considered the most distingnished cosmographer of his 
time. His friend OrteUus, whose name is often associated with his, 
and who shared his laurels, repeatedly calls him, in his great atlas, the 
tirst edition of which was published in 1570, " nostri sajculi Ptole- 
maeus " (the Ptolemy of our age), and " Geographorum nostri temporis 
coryphaeus '' (the corypheus of the geographers of our time) ; and men- 
tions his chart of 1.569, in the following terms : " sua nunquam satis 
laudata universalis tabula" (his never enough praised universal chart). 

But this work, so admired and copied by contemporaries, was eclipsed 
by later improvements, and fell into neglect. Most of the copies were 
thrown aside and destroyed in the progress of time, until at last in 
1852, only one copy, preserved in the imperial library in Paris, was 
known to be in existence.* 

M. Jomard, in his great work '" Monuments de la Geographie," has 
reproduced all the large sheets of the work, and given lithographic fac- 
similes of them in the size of the originals. From one of these our 
fragment, No. 22, is a reduced copy. 

On the whole, Mercator's work is most interesting and accurate in 
the delineation of the old world, particularly of Europe, with which 
he Avas best acquainted. In regard to Africa, and southern and east- 
ern Asia, he does not appear to be so well informed.t In the chart of 
America several parts are not so well represented as they had been in 
previous manuscript maps of the time ; but other sections are so strik- 
ingly well delineated, and so superior to all that existed in former 
maps, that we seek with astonishment, but in vain, for the sources 
from which he derived his information. 

The chart bears many signs of the great and often unnecessary ap-» 
I)lication of our studious cosmographer ; for he has reproduced the 
fabulous islands of " St. Brandan," " Y. Verde," " Arredonda," etc., 
traditional among the learned, and which were laid down on many 
charts before the time of Columbus. These are jjlaced in the Atlan- 
tic Ocean, together with the Azores and Bermudas, the only islands 
of all he has named really entitled to a place there. 

Mercator was, like his contemporaries, a great admirer of the chart of 
the Zeni, which had been published about ten years before his own, and 
whose work he attempted to harmonize with that of other early map- 
makers, and to embody in his map. His mode of proceeding was singu- 
lar, and had an influence on the geography and discovery of his time ; 

*So Lelewel supposed in his " G(5ographie du moyen age,"'tom. 2, p. 183, note 358. 
t The same remark lias bceu made by otliers. 



MERCATOR'S MAP, 15G9. 387 

for believing his charts to be accurate, navigators took them for a 
guide. 

He copied exactly from the Zeni's chart the entire representation of 
Greenland with its latitudes, as given upon the^ engraved map of 1558, 
without suspecting that these latitudes were not given in the original 
of 13S0, but were, as we believe, afterwards added to the map of 1558. 
Adopting them as reliable, he consequently put the southern point 
of Greenland "Trin prom "(Cape Farewell) nearly under the arctic 
circle, while in reality it lies six degrees further south. 

South of this Greenland of the Zeni, he depicted the true Green- 
land ending in latitude 60°, with its true configuration as described on 
the old Portuguese and Spanish charts, and called " terra Agricolse," 
or " Labrador," to which he gave the name " Estotilant," as had been 
done on the map of the Zeni. Between these countries he made a 
broad strait: and thus Mercator has laid Greenland down twice on his 
map, once with its correct conflguration, but the wrong latitude of the 
Zeni's chart; and again, in the true latitude of Cortereal and his fol- 
lowers, but with a wrong delineation. 

West of Greenland he placed the large island of Iceland, to which he 
added some of the names found on the Zeni's map, as " Foglasker," 
" Skalholdin," " Westrabord," etc., though he did not give it the latitude 
and configuration of the Zeni, and must therefore, I think, have fol- 
lowed some later map of that island. He also restores to his chart a 
rock between Iceland and Greenland, which Gunnbiorn is said to have 
discovered six hundred years before. The rock, in Mercator's time, 
had entirely disappeared under accumulated masses of ice ; yet he re- 
stored it and placed it, nicely engraved, on his chart by the name of 
" Witsarc," which is the name of a mountain, iilaced in the chroni- 
cles of the Northmen, on the coast of Greenland, but not intro- 
duced on the mai) of the Zeni. I cannot imagine where Mercator 
heard of it, unless from correspondents in Iceland. 

South-west and south of Iceland, Mercator has produced an exact 
copy from the Zeni's map of the islands " Icaria" and "Frislant," with 
their names. He had not ascertained as yet that this " Frislant " was 
no other than the " Faroe Islands," much enlarged and wrongly situated, 
as we now know. He regarded "Frislant "*as a great island existing 
on the south of Iceland, and put the little group of the Faroe Islands 
in their proper position, as they are found on modern maps ; and thus, 
as in the case of Greenland, he has represented this group twice ; once 
in its true size and longitude, and again incorrectly, as copied from 
the Zeni. 

The country " Drogeo," which is placed in the south-western corner 



388 MERCATOK'S MAP, 1569. 

of the map of the Zeni, Mevcator regarded as an island in the midst of 
the Atlantic, and has so laid it down. In fact, this name Drogeo de- 
notes the present north-eastern termination of New England, and is 
placed by Malte Brun and Lelewel, on their maps, exactly on the coast 
of Maine. 

But the best portion of Mercator's work, and a real and valuable im- 
provement upon all former maps, is his delineation of the large penin- 
sula of Labrador, lying south-west of Greenland. On all former maps, 
that region was ill-shapen and most incorrectly drawn. But here, un- 
der the name of " Terra Corterealis," it receives its proper shape, with 
a full and just development, which had not been given to it on any 
map prior to 15G9. He makes its eastern coast run south-east and 
north-west, as it really does from about 53° to 60° IST. In the north he 
I)lainly shows the narrow entrance of Hudson's Strait, and at the west 
of it a large gulf, called by him " Golfam de Merosro." This remarka- 
ble gulf may be an indication of either Hudson's Bay or only the Bay 
of Ungava. I think that the latter was meant ; first, because the "Gulf 
of Merosro" has the longitude of the mouth of the River St. LaAvvence, 
which is also the longitude of the Bay of Ungava ; second, because 
the said gulf is represented as closed in the west. The western coast 
of the Bay of Ungava runs high up to the north, where Hudson's 
Strait is often filled with ice. This may have led the unknown discov- 
erers, the informants of Mercator, to suppose that it was closed in the 
west. If they had looked round Cape Wolstenholm into Hudson's Bay, 
they would have perceived a broad bay and open water before them. 

Mercator does not indicate, so far as I know, the sources from which 
he derived these remarkable improvements for his chart, which were 
not known by Homem in 1558, and of which there are only slight indi- 
cations on the Cabot map of 1.544. He adopts the Portuguese names 
for his " Terra Corterealis," namely, " Golfam de Merosro," " Y. dus de- 
monios," " Cabo Marco," " Ilha da fortuna," " Baia dus medaus," '' Eio 
de tormenta," " Ylhas de caravillo," " Baia de malvas," etc. Some of the 
names are not new, but had been long known, though not always put 
in the same position. We know of no official Portuguese exploring 
expedition made to these regions between the time of Homem (1558) 
and Mercator (1509); and ' therefore the suggestions of Dr. Asher, 
for the solution of this problem, have a high degree of probability. He 
says : * " The Portuguese fishermen continued their surveys of the 
northern coasts," commenced by Caspar Cortereal in 1500, " most likely 
for no other purpose than to discover advantageous fisheries. They 

*See G. M. Asher's Henry Iludsau, Introduction, p. xcvi. Loudon, 18G0. 



MERCATOR'S MAP, 1569. 389 

seem to have advanced slowly, step by step, first along the shores of 
Newfoundland, then up to the mouth of Hudson's Strait, then through 
that strait, and at last into Hudson's Bay," or as I think into Ungava 
Bay. " With a certain number of ancient maps, ranging from 1529 to 
1570 before us, we can trace this progress step by step. In 1544," the 
time of Cabot's map, " the Portuguese seem not yet to have reached 
the mouth of the Strait; and in 1570," or as I think 1569, the date of 
our Mcrcator's map,* "they have reached the bay," Hudson's, or at 
least Ungava Bay. " "We can, therefore, state with the greatest cer- 
tainty, that Hudson's Bay," Hudson's Strait as far as Ungava Bay, . . . 
" had been discovered before the publication of Ortelius's atlas, which 
took place in 1570," or better*, before the publication of Mercator's 
chart, which took place in 1569. " But we are not equally certain, that 
the discovery falls within the years 1558 to 1570," or better, 1569, " be- 
cause wc have only the negative evidence of Diego Homem's chart to 
support the latter assertion. The fact itself is, however, probable 
enough." 

Diego Homem was living in Venice several years after 15.58. He 
therefore may have made other charts of later date than that preserv- 
ed in the British museum of 1558, and may have represented upon 
them the latest discoveries of his countrymen ; and it is therefore pos- 
sible that Mercator may have had before him a chart of Labrador by 
this Portuguese ; though it would appear from other sections of his 
chart, that he was not acquainted with Homem's map of 1558. 

South of " Terra Corterealis " are Newfoundland, still called " Terra 
de Bacallaos," and " Nova Francia." The latitudes for Newfoundland 
are partly correct ; for instance. Cape Eace in 46° 30' N., is nearly in 
its true latitude. The names along the east coast of Newfoundland 
remain as they had been from the time of the Cortereals, with the addi- 
tion of a few French names from the voyage of Cartier. 

Mercator has made a good use of the charts of Cartier and Roberval, 
which, in 1569, furnished the only materials for the construction of a 
map of New France. Fully and correctly, with slight exceptions, he 
adopts all their names along the gulf and river of St. Lawrence. It is 
the best draft which one could have for illustrating and understand- 
ing the voyages and proceedings of Cartier, not excepting even the 
French copies of the charts of this explorer, which I have examined in 
former essays. The only neglected part is the western shore of New- 

*Dr. Asher does not mention Mercator's map of 1569. He had before him the 
map of Ortelius of 1570, who was only a follower and copyist of Mercator, but adopted 
his views. 



I 



390 MEECATOK'S MAP, loG9. 

foundland, which, with the assistance of Cavtier, might have been made 
more accurate. 

The principal affluents of the St. Lawrence, the Saguenay, the St. 
Maurice, the St. John, and the Ottawa, are all indicated with nearly 
their true features, which he could have thus delineated only by pro- 
ceeding on a correct hypothesis. On the Ottawa, left without a name, 
there is written the following inscription : " Hoc fluvio facilior est 
navigatio in Saguenai " (by this river the navigation is easier to Sague- 
nay), that fabulous country in the north-west, from the riches of which 
Cartier hoped so much. To the west, at the head of this river, in about 
60° N., appears a part of a large lake, with the inscription : " Hie mare 
est dulcium aquarum, cujus terminum ignorari Canadenses ex relatu 
Saguenaiensium aiuut" (here is a sea of fresh-water, the end of which, 
say the Canadians, according to the report of the Saguenay people, is 
unknown). The high latitude would lead us to think, that Lake Su- 
perior was referred to, though of course it may have been Lake Hu- 
ron. The manner in which the St. Lawrence has been drawn vrest of 
Montrealproves, that neither Cartier nor Mercator had any knowledge 
of Lake Ontario. 

South of New France and jSTewfoundland we come to Nova Scotia ; for 
a description of which, Mercator might have learned much from the 
Portuguese chart of Homem of 15.58, our No. 21. But it is evident that 
lie had no knowledge of it, nor is Homem mentioned in the celebrated 
catalogue of chartographers given by Ortelius. 

Mercator has drawn the coast of Nova Scotia, New England, and, in 
fact, the entire east coast of the United States, nearly corresponding 
with the French chart of 1550, our No. 18. He has given to these coun- 
tries the same configuration and latitudes as are seen on that map, and 
must have had a copy of it before him. Tlie names on this coast, which 
are mostly of Spanish origin, are very much corrupted, and sometimes 
are scarcely intelligible. Some of them have a Portuguese appearance ; 
as in the inscription given to Nova Scotia : " Esta he a terra dus Bre- 
tones" (this is the country of the Bretons). Many old acquaintances 
from the map of Eibero — names introduced by Gomez — are found 
among them; but are placed in such different i^ositions, varying some- 
times for hundreds of miles, that it is impossible to say what harbor 
or locality is intended ; for instance, the name " Eio primero " is 
placed on Mcrcator's map on the west of Cape Breton, while on the 
map of Vallard, our No. 19, it is on the west of Nova Scotia. 

Near the name '■ C. da lexus ( ? )," not far from " rio hondo," a rectan- 
gular cape is depicted. This was probably meant for Cape Sable. 
There is no other indication of the Bay of Fundy, although it had been 



MERCATOR'S MAP, 1569. 391 

placed in 1558 on the map of Homem. Verrazano's " island of Clau- 
dia," which seems to flit from place to place along the whole coast' 
according to the will of the chartographers, is placed on our map near 
the cape last mentioned. 

At the great river of Norumbega (rio grande), we arrive on well 
known and sure ground. This great river with its broad mouth is, no 
doubt, the " Rio de las Gamas " of Ribero and Gomez, and our Penob- 
scot Bay and River. The coast of Maine is indicated, as usual, by a 
long chain of islets. To the territory of Maine, the famous name of 
" Norumbega" is given, and in the midst of it, on the east bank of the 
great river, a splendid capital, "Norumbega," is depicted. Mercator 
gives to his "Rio grande" of Norumbega, two branches or forks) 
which — curiously enough ! — ^happen to be nearly correct. 

The cape to the wes* of the great river of Norumbega, usually called 
" Cabo de muchas islas," has on our map the name, " Cabo de lagus 
islas " ( ? ). Then comes a bay, " Orsmora" ( ? ) ; after this, " arciel de 
estevan gomens" (instead of Arcipelago de Estevan Gomez). It is evi- 
dent that our excellent Mercator had no accurate knowledge either of 
the name of Gomez himself, or of the names given by him to this coast. 

All the following names of Gomez and Ribero have been corrupted 
in a similar manner ; so that they can scarcely be recognized or ex- 
plained. These names of Gomez had now grown very old ; they had 
been copied by many authors ; and copies became more degenerate the 
further they were removed from the date of the original. So that Mer- 
cator's map has exactly its weakest part, and has the fewest new and 
good things to tell us, on that section of the coast which interests us 
most, namely, the coast of New England. 

From the " terra dus Bretones," for about twenty degrees of longi- 
tude, the coast-line runs due east and west in about 42° N. Then, not 
far west of the river Norumbega, it turns to the south-south-west, 
forming that semicircular gulf, lined with little islands, which points 
out the Gulf of Maine, ending at the projecting " Cabo de arenas." 
This cape on Ribero's map, stands in latitude 40° N. ; on Mercators, it 
is two degrees south, in 38° N. ; on the French chart of 1550, our No. 18, 
in 39° 30'. However, from the manner in which Mercator depicts the 
reefs and banks near this cape, it is evident, that in other respects he 
follows the French chart. He gives to these banks the same two little 
crosses, and the same configuration, which are to be found on the 
French chart. 

Except this " Cabo de arenas " (Cape Cod ? ) jiothing is to be found 
on our chart of the peninsula of New England, or of the gulf and harbor 
of New York ; nothing of all that Verrazano discovered, except his 
island " Claudia," misplaced far to the east. 



I 



392 MEECATOR'S MAP, 15GD. 

As our chart has duplicated tlie Farue Islands, Greenland, and Davis' 
Sti-ait, so has it given us two States of Maine, one under the name 
of Norumbega, in the right place, and another under the name of 
"Drogeo," misplaced, and swimming far to the north, as an island in 
the midst of the ocean. 

That jiart of the east coast which lies south of " Cabo de arenas," 
had been represented m,uch better on former Spanish charts. We 
scarcely recognize in o4o 30' JS"., the Baia de Sta. Maria (Chesapeake 
Bay) ; the name of which has been here omitted. But he has given 
not far from where it should be, some indication of a bay, under the 
name '" del principe," which is a Spanish name always given to one of 
the rivers entering the Chesapeake Bay. 

The only thing on the map which, in this part of our east coast, we 
can praise as meritorious, is the long mountain range following the 
coast-line at some distance in the interior. Mercator is the first, I 
think, who delineated the chain of the Alleghany Mountains, and 
gave to them their true distance from the Atlantic ; and he has done 
this in a very happy manner. He makes them run in their southern 
section, from the south-west toward the north-east ; and in the north of 
Norumbega, he gives them an eastern direction. This noi'thern branch 
may be in part conjectural, but in part may have been taken from 
Cartier's report, who, as I have said, saw from the St. Lawrence the 
mountain range that borders the northern portion of Maine. The 
southern portion of the Alleghanies was discovered by De Soto on his 
grand expedition to the Mississippi Valley in 1.538-1543. And Mercator 
must have studied the reports of this exi)edition, which were for a long 
time the only source of information on the southern region of the Alle- 
ghanies; deriving from it the names which are found on his map, 
namely, " Mocosa," "Ai)alchen," and others. 

The great and well-deserved authority which the " Ptolemy of the 
sixteenth century" enjoyed, gave him numerous followers and copy- 
ists. The picture of America given in his chart of 15G9, was at once 
copied by his friend Ortelius in 1570, and afterwards by innumerable 
others. His successors, Wytfliet (1.597), Quad en (IGOO), Hondius, and 
others, would sometimes change, or add something to, Mercator's draw- 
ings and names. But one thing, the " Rio grande of Norumbega," 
pleased them so much, that they allowed it to remain. And so we see 
that the Penobscot, with its two branches coming in from the east and 
west, and with the fabulous city " Norumbega " on its banks, makes a 
great figure on all the subsequent charts and maps just mentioned ; 
and also on those of John Dee (1580), of Hakluyt (1589), and several 
others. It is everywhere the same figure which Mercator partly bor- 



MERCATOR'S MAP, 15G9. 393 

rowed from former Spanish maps, and partly drew from his own re- 
sources. 

It is a remarkable fact, that while the icy seas and coasts of Green- 
land, Labrador, Newfoundland, and Canada were depicted on the maps 
of the sixteenth century with a high degree of truth, our coasts of 
N'ew England and New York were badly di'awn, so late as 1569. 
Though these countries had been known in the eleventh and twelfth 
centuries, and had been visited by navigators and sometimes colonies 
from Norway, Spain, France, and England, still their geography was 
little understood, and their chartography Avas very defective, and so 
remained through nearly the whole of the sixteenth century. And 
when at the end of this century, and the beginning of the seventeenth, 
the modern French and English discoverers, Gosnold, Pring, De Monts, 
Weymouth, Hudson, Smith, and others, arrived on these coasts, they 
had to begin the work of exploration anew. Hudson, when in 1G09 he 
sailed to the south of Cape Cod, and entered the Gulf of New York, 
was perfectly justified in saying, that he entered " an unknown sea." * 

But the results of these later discoveries, and the improved charts 
brought out by them, belong to another period of time, and, per- 
haps, may be considered in a subsequent volume. For the present, I 
conclude my series of chartographical illustrations with this chart of 
Mercator. Between 15G9, the year of its composition, and 1583, the 
time of Gilbert's expedition, the interval which separates the present 
volume from its successor, I find no other map or chart, manuscript or 
printed, having any relation whatever to our subject, or adding any- 
thing new to the stock of our knowledge of the coast of Maine. 

*See Asher, 1. c. p. 63. 



CHAPTER X. 

CONTINUATION OF THE SPANISH EXPEDITIONS ALONG 
THE COAST OF FLORIDA. 



1, ExPEDiTio:^ OF Lucas Vasquez de Ayllon to the Coun- 
try CnicoRA (Carolhsta), in 1526. 

Lucas Vasquez de Ayllon, as I have said before, re- 
turned to Spain, probably in 1521, from his exploring voyage 
of 1520, to report his success and induce the government to 
assist him in the conquest of Chicora, his newly discovered 
country. He represented it as fertile, rich, abounding in 
pearls and other valuable productions, suitable for settlement, 
and inhabited by a good sort of people of clear understand- 
ing, and governed by a king of gigantic figure. He succeeded 
in concluding with the government an agreement (una capit- 
ulacion), the articles of which were signed on the 12th of 
June, 1523.* 

The royal decree gave him permission to fit out, arm, and 
man at his own cost as many vessels as he thought neces- 
sary. He was to return with them to "Chicora" (Caro- 
lina), and continue the discovery and exploration of the 
country as far as eight hundred leagues to the north ;f and if 
in this navigation he should find a strait going to the west, he 
was to enter and explore it, and procure an exact knowledge 

* See these articles ia Navarrete, CoUeccion de los viages, etc., torn. 3. 
p. 153 seq. 

■j " Nauegareis ocbocienta leguas." Navarrete, 1. c. 



EXPEDITION OF AYLLON TO CHICORA, 152G. 395 

of all the regions, whether islands or continent, and report 
upon the number of the former, and the extent of the latter ;* 
and should also ascertain the nature of the country, and what 
valuable productions, useful to commerce, it might contain. 

After this, the country was to be settled, and in all its 
parts were to be erected such fortifications as might be neces- 
sary for the protection of commerce. To Ayllon was given, 
at the same time, the title of " Adelantado of the country of 
Chicora ; " under which name a very large portion of the 
eastern coast may have been comprised. This title, and the 
privileges connected with it, were made hereditary in his 
family. 

From these facts it is evident, that the plan of this enter- 
prise embraced the whole of the east coast of the United 
States, and also, as in the case of Gomez, the discovery of a 
north-west passage. Ayllon was also enjoined that if he 
should discover this passage, he should be careful not to in- 
terfere with the possessions of Portugal, embracing the Spice 
Islands.! Hence it will be perceived, that this voyage was 
intended as a grand exploring expedition, and might extend 
even to a circumnavigation of the globe. 

It was stipulated that Ayllon should sail as early as the 
spring of 1524, and complete his expedition within three 
years from the day of his departure ; but this last condition 
he was unable to fulfil. 

He returned to St. Domingo, and spent there not less than 
two years in making his outfit, until ho was admonished and 
even urged by the council of the Indies to make more haste 
with his expedition. We arc not informed of the causes of 
this delay ; but it appears that there were dissensions between 
him and his former associates, Matienzo and Caballero, who 

* See this in Navarrete, 1. c. p. 154. 
t Navarrete, I.e. p. 105. 



1 



396 EXPEDITION OF AYLLON TO CHICOBA, 152G. 

claimed to Imve as much riglit and title to the northern con- 
quest, as Ayllon himself; and pretended that he had made 
false representations to the king on the events connected 
Avith the first discovery in 1520.* 

At last, in the spring of 1526, the armament was ready. 
It consisted of six well-provided vessels with five hundred 
sailors and soldiers, and some women ; and from eighty to 
ninety horses; in furnishing all which, Aylion is said to 
have spent not less than 100,000 ducats. It Avas as large 
an armament as tjiat with which Cortes had set out for the 
conquest of Mexico. f 

The expedition sailed from Port de la Plata, in Hayti, in 
the middle of July, 1526, | and arrived at St. Helena Sound, 
called "the River Jordan," on the coast of " Chicora," where 
it came to anchor. 

But the whole expedition was a series of misfortunes. 
Ayllon may have been, as Oviedo describes him, a " distin- 
guished scliolar, a virtuous cavalier, and a person of good in- 
tellect ;" but he probably was neither an experienced naviga- 
tor, nor a fit commander. Herrera says, "he did not know 
how to govern his people, nor they to obey him ;"§ and the 
chief pilot of his fleet, Diego Miruelo, who led the expedition 
to Chicora in 1520, was also unsuccessful in his arrangements. 
Of him Barcia relates, that his naval operations were exe- 
cuted in so unsatisfactory a manner, that he went mad, and 
died from grief. || 

* Herrera, Dec. Ill, lib. 8, cap. 8. 

t Gomara and Herrera make it consist only of three ves-sels. But Ovie- 
do gives the numbers above mentioned. 

} So says Navarrete, after the manuscript of Oviedo. Herrera puts the 
expedition in 1525; Gomara and Barcia in 1524. The authoi's last named, 
seeing in the royal decree that Ayllon had promised to sail in 1524, proba- 
bly supposed that he did so, not knowing his hindrances. 

§ Her^-era, 1 c. cap. 8, " ui el sabia governar, ni ellos obederle." 

!l Barcia, Ensayo cronologico de la Florida, p. 8. 



EXPEDITION OF AYJ.LON TO CHICOEA, 1520. 397 

The first in the series of mischances was the loss of tlie 

« 

admiral's ship (la Capitana) ; wliicli, on entering the river 
Jordan, grounded and became a total loss, with all her cargo 
and provisions, though the crew were saved. The other ves- 
sels being smaller, entered the port without danger. 

A part of the soldiers were put on shore, under the con- 
duct of their officers, to explore the interior of the country. 
The vessels, meanwhile, were sent north, to make a further 
survey of the coast, Avhich they " examined extensively^'''' * and, 
in a short time, returned with the news, that they had found 
in the north, at the distance of about forty or fifty leagues, a 
nnich better country, to which they had given the name " S. 
Miguel de Gualdape." 

The company on shore were glad to hear this, for they had 
already begun to siilfer from sickness and want of provisions ; 
and the women and the infirm were at once transported in 
the ships to " S. Miguel de Gualdape." The rest marched 
along the shore to the same point, wdiere they erected the 
royal standard, and constructed houses. 

They found the country to be level, and full of lagoons, 
with a large river (Rio caudaloso) abounding in fish. But the 
entrance thereto was obstructed, and the ships could pass the 
bar only at high tide. I suppose that this is the present Cape 
Fear River ; but I will not discuss here the particulars of a 
question which l)elongs to the special history of the coast of 
Carolina. 

AVe are more particularly interested in the " extensive sur- 
vey" of the coast north of the Rio Jordan (St. Helena 
Sound), which the ships of Ayilon completed soon after their 
arrival in the country ; and it is much to be regretted, that 
we have not more full information on this part of the enter- 
prise. We do not know how long they Avere out, and only 

* " Los buques fueron examinando i)rolixamente." Oviedo. 



398 EXPEDITION OF AYLLOX TO CHICOEA, 152G. 

hear, that they examuiecl the coast in detail ^^rolixamente) 
through forty or fifty leagues to the anchorage-place at " S. 
Miguel de Gualdape." But as this covild scarcely be called 
an extensive examination, it is probable that they surveyed 
the coast much further north. 

This idea would be more in accordance with the plan and 
instructions of Ayllon, by which he was to go along the coasts 
''for more than eight hundred leagues," and to look out 
for a north-west passage. The harbor of San Miguel being 
alone mentioned, would not imply that no other places were 
discovered on this occasion. It was, no doubt, the com- 
mencement of an extensive exploration of the coast, which 
Ayllon had intended to make, and was not a mere search for 
a good anchorage, which had been found before, and only 
afterwards proved to be insecure. 

We should infer from the chart of the imperial cosmog- 
rapher, Ribero,* in 1529, that more was accomplished than 
is communicated in the historical reports. This chart repre- 
sents the outlines of the coast, according to original surveys, 
as far as it had been discovered up to that time ; and is even 
more authentic than the accounts of Gomara, Oviedo, and 
Herrera. It was made only four years after the voyage, and 
is the oldest document on the expedition ; while some of the 
narratives of the above-named historians were written twenty, 
and others sixty years after. 

On this chart we find laid down all the regions discovered 
by Ayllon in 1526. They are indicated under the name, 
" Tierra de Ayllon," v.diich covers all the eastern countries 
south of 40° N., namely, the present States of Virginia, 
Maryland, Carolina, and Georgia. 

In the southern part of this territory, near 32° N., we find 
Ayllon's " C. de S. Elena," and a little further to the north 

* See map, No. IG. 



EXPEDITION OF AYLLON TO CHICOEA, 1526. 399 

of it, Lis "Rio Jordan." Thence the coast runs north-east, 
exhibiting several inlets and capes as high as 40° N., where 
we find the far i^rojecting "C. de Arenas." 

Fi'om the manner in which Ribero writes the name " Tierra 
de Ayllon," it is clear that he includes nnder it all the coasts 
south of "Cabo de Arenas." This cape and its neighbor- 
hood appear to mai-k the division between " Tierra de Ayl- 
lon " and " Tierra de Gomez," and might be ascribed either 
to the one or the other. I have already given my reasons 
for believing that it must be ascribed to Gomez ; at all events, 
we may be sure tliat south of 35° or 3G° N., the discoveries 
of Ayllon begin, and that the delineation of that coast, and 
also the names given on the chart, must be considered as being 
made after the survey and chart of the pilots of Ayllon in 
152.6. We know of no other explorer who sailed along this 
part of the coast between 1526, the date of Ayllon's expe- 
dition, and 1529, the date of Ribero's map. 

We find a little north of Rio Jordan, in not quite 33° N., 
" C. de S. Roman" (Cape Remain), in its true latitude. 

Farther on, in about 33° 30' N., occurs " Rio del Prin- 
cipe." It mrfy be Georgetown entrance. This name, "Rio 
del Principe," occurs on many subsequent Spanish charts, 
but at length disappears. 

In about 34° 30' N. we find " C. Traftalgar;" a name 
which remained conspicuous during the whole Spanish era, 
and is still found on some charts of the last century. It is 
generally thought to be Cape Lookout ; but to me it appears 
to correspond better to Cape Hatteras. 

In 35° N. is a great bay, with many islands before it, called 
"B. de Sta. Maria" (St. Mary's Bay). The latitude and 
configuration given to it, its islands and many entrances, 
would indicate that Pamlico Sound was here intended ; but 
for other reasons and from a later exact description of it, we 



400 EXPEDITION OF AYLLON TO CHICORA, 1526. 

consider it certain, that it is the entrance of Cliesapeake 
Bay. 

As I consider it essential to the history of Ayllon's expe- 
dition, and a true understanding of the map of Ribero, to 
settle this question, and to gain at St. Mary's Bay a fixed 
point south of New England, I will here anticipate a little 
the order of events. 

The " exact description of St. Mary's Bay," to which I 
allude, is that given by Don Pedro Menendez Marques, who, 
in 1573, made a very minute survey of the coast of Florida, 
and after describing its more southern capes and inlets, 
comes to " Bahia de St. Maria," of which he speaks in the 
following terms : " This bay has at its entrance a breadth* of 
three leagues," which is exactly the distance between the 
two well-known capes at the entrance of Chesapeake Bay.* 
" You enter into St. Mary's Bay toward the north-north- 
west;" which is in fact the trending of the main body of 
Chesapeake Bay. " At the entrance of St. Mary's Bay on 
the south side, near the land, are found soundings from nine 
to thirteen fathoms ; but on the north side, only from fivje to 
seven fathoms." Our modern surveys show that the south- 
ern Cape Henry has deeper soundings than the northern 
Cape. Charles. " But two leagues out to sea, you find the 
same depth and soundings, both north and south, and more 
sandy bottom than within the bay. Passing through the 
channel you have from nine to thirteen fathoms, and on both 
sides, within the bay, are numerous rivers and ports, where 
ships can be moored." This needs no comment ; the whole 
description, and particularly that of the soundings, leaves no 
doubt that Chesaj)eake Bay, and no other, can be here 
intended. 

* See Barcia, " Ensayo Cronol.," etc., p. HG seq. Madrid, 1723. 



EXPEDITION" OF AYLLON TO CHICOEA, 1526. 401 

Both the latitudes of St. Mary's Bay given in the fore- 
going description, " 37° N." and " 37° 30' N.," * apply to 
Chesapeake Bay, but the former is more correct. 

In the course of my examination, I shall have occasion to 
make use of this result, and to speak more at large on the 
interesting survey of Menendezin 1573. I will now return 
to Ayllon and his unfortunate crew, whom we left at their 
anchorage in S. Miguel de Gualdape (Cape Fear River). 

Want of provisions soon forced them to make further ex- 
cursions into the country. Autumn M^as wearing away, and 
winter was drawing near. Many Spaniards sickened and 
died, and among them, Oct. 18, 1526, Ayllon himself, the 
chief commander. 

One of the officers, Francisco Gomez, succeeded him in the 
command of the army and fleet, but was not acknowledged 
by some of the officers. Disobedience, dissensions, and re- 
volts followed. Some of the soldiers disbanded, marched into 
the interior of the country, and lost their lives in battle with 
the Indians, w^ho defended their homes against their assaults.f 

At last, only one hundred and fifty men, out of the five 
hundred which had set out on this enterprise, remained alive ; 
and these, discouraged and exhausted, returned to S. Do- 
mingo, where they arrived in a miserable condition, after a 
stormy and dangerous passage. 

The ■ widow and son of Ayllon afterwards solicited the 
Spanish government to continue to them the grant made to 
him ; but we do not know that they effected anything for 
the continuance of the enterprise.^ 

* See Barcia, 1. c. pp. 119 aud 148. 

tHerrera relates (1. c. ) that on one occasion not less than two hundred 
Spaniards were slain by the Indians. 

t Barcia, 1. c. p. 9, says, that the son of Ayllon tried to do something for 
a new expedition to Chicora, but was not able to raise the necessary 
funds, aud died in despair. 
26 



402 EXPEDITIONS OF DE SOTO, 1538-1543. 

2. The Expeditions of Fernando de Soto, Diego Mal- 
DONADO, AND GoMEz Arias, 1538-1543. 

After the discovery of Florida by Ponce de Leon in 1512, 
many thought that this country was only a large island. 
When, in 1519, the exciting news of the conquest of Mexico 
by Cortes reached the Spanish governors and settlers of the 
Antilles, several " conquistadors " and adventurers hastened to 
the northern shores of the Gulf of Mexico, to seek there for 
a country similar to the realm of Montezuma. 

In 1519, Alonzo Alvarez Pineda, in the service of Fran- 
cisco de Garay, governor of Jamaica, surveyed a great part 
of this northern coast, and in 1520, Pamfilo de Narvaez was 
sent out on the track of Cortes by Velasquez, governor 
of Cuba, with eighteen vessels. In the same year Pineda 
sailed again to Panuco, in the north of Mexico. And in 
1521, the old governor of Porto Rico, Ponce de Leon, once 
more undertook an expedition to his government of Florida, 
where unhappily he lost his life, leaving a son his heir and 
successor, who did not, however, follow the career of his 
father. 

By all these expeditions, principally however by those of 
Pineda, it was proved, that Florida was not an island, but a 
peninsula joined to a great continent in the north, and that 
there existed no passage from the Gulf of Mexico either in 
the north-east or north-west. The same fact was also proved 
in the search on the shores of the Atlantic by Ayllon ; 
who, on his second expedition, in vain sought a strait to the 
west as high north as Chesapeake Bay. 

When it was ascertained that the Gulf of Mexico was a 
closed basin, Cortes, who was now the governor of all these 
regions, and assumed to be the head of all enterprises con- 
nected with them and the north of Florida, now directed his 



EXPEDITIONS OP DE SOTO, 1538-1543. 403 

attention to the subject of a nortli-west passage. In a letter 
dated Oct. 15, at the ctiy of Temistitan, lie wrote to the Em- 
peror Charles,* that he was quite certain that a strait existed 
between the Atlantic and the South Sea, and that he was de- 
termined to solve the problem. " Though expenses crowded 
upon him," he says, " though he thought the enterprise 
would cost him more than 11,000 ducats ; still he had given 
orders to fit out several vessels, some to cruise along the 
Pacific shore to the north, and others concurrently along the 
coast of Florida to the Bacallaos. This grand exploring 
scheme of Cortes embraced, accordingly, a search of the coast 
of New England, which, however, was never carried into 
effect. For Cortes, soon after 1524, found urgent occu- 
pation in the south. The search along the Pacific was 
undertaken, and resulted in the discovery of the rocky penin- 
sula of California, and its long gulf, sometimes named after 
him " the Sea of Cortes." 

Though Pineda did not bring home very encouraging ac- 
counts from the northern coast of the Gulf of Mexico, where 
he saw nothing but sandy islands and shores, still it was 
thought by some enterprising Spanish captains, that there 
might be found, in the interior of the country, another Mexico 
or Peru. And hence two expeditions were undertaken in 
that direction ; one under Pamfilo de Narvaez, in 1528 ; the 
other and most important, under Fernando de Soto in 1538- 
1543. 

The expedition of Narvaez Avas most unfortunate, and pro- 
ductive of no good results. It was confined wholly to the 
Gulf of Mexico, and ended in the loss of his own life and 
that of most of his companions. 

The expedition of De Soto in 1538-1543 Avas more exten- 
sive and more interesting. But before proceeding to a par- 

* See this letter in Kamusio, vol. 3, fol. 294, Venetia, 1556. 



404 EXPEDITIONS OF DE SOTO, 1538-1543. 

ticular narrative of it,^I will give a brief account of some 
expeditions which were made during the period of more than 
twelve years between the voyages of Ayllon and De Soto. 

It is not impossible, that during this period some parts of 
our coast may have been descried and sailed along by Span- 
ish vessels. Nay, it is scarcely credible that it should not 
have been so. Soon after the discovery of the Gulf-stream 
navigation by Alaminos, in 1519, many Spanish vessels sailed 
on the track of this navigator. On the one side, in the south, 
the commerce and navigation of Havana, on the coasts of the 
Bahama channel, had begun to be flourishing. On the other 
side, in the north, the Spaniards, after the time of Gomez, had 
begun to take a large share in the cod-fisheries of the Banks 
of Newfoundland. " These banks," says Asher, very ap- 
propriately,* " were at a moderate distance from the Spanish 
colonies in the West Indian Archipelago. It is therefore but 
natural for us to imagine, that the Spaniards sometimes 
included both points in the same voyage." It is also very 
probable, that some of those vessels, sailing along the east 
coast of North Ameiica, may have been occasionally forced 
out of their way, and driven upon our shores. If we Avere 
better acquainted with the history of Spanish shipwrecks, 
we should probably learn, that the connection of Spanish 
navigation with our coast was not wholly interrupted during 
this period. 

I may also remind the reader of the sentiment expressed 
by Gomara, who incidentally remarks, " that many voyages 
of discovery had been made to the Western Indies, particu- 
larly to the north, of which we have received no record."! 

It must, however, be confessed, that we know nothing for 

*See Asher, Henry Hudson, Introduction, p. C. 

t See this observation in Gomara, Historia General de las Indias, fol. 20. 
Saragossa, 1553. 



DISCOVERY OF* BERMUDA. 405 

certain regarding such expeditions. Not a single log or jour- 
nal of any Spanish vessel, sailing through our waters during 
this period, has been preserved. And it is also worth th^ 
mention, that Oviedo, who wrote his history of Spanish ship- 
wrecks in the West Indies in the year 1535, does not mention 
any shipwreck as having happened on our coasts.* 

From our only happening sometimes to hear incidentally of 
similar disasters, even in later times when the published re- 
ports respecting our coast were more numerous and complete, 
we can easily explain how these early events may have failed 
to have reached these general historians. In the year 1584, 
when Sir Walter Raleigh's captains, Amadas and Barlow, 
came to the shores of Virginia, they learned from the In- 
dians, that about twenty years before (1564), a great vessel, 
belonging to a Christian nation, had been wrecked on the 
coast. And again, in the year 1G07, when the English cap- 
tains Popliam and Gilbert arrived on the co«st of Maine, 
the Indians of this country came out to them " in a Spanish 
shallop," probably the boat of a Spanish vessel f that had 
visited the coast, or had been wrecked there. How many 
may have been the accidents of this kind, of which no report 
had ever come to European ears ! 

There is, however, one event of considerable interest to us, 
and well ascertained, which occurred during this period, at no 
great distance from our coasts ; namely, the discovery of the 
island of Bermuda. This took place probably in about the 
year 1526, J by the Spanish captain Juan Bermudez, from 

*See Oviedo, Historia General de las Indias, lib. 20. "De los infortu- 
nios y naufragios. Sevilla, 1535. 

t [Strachey mentions two sliallops, Historic of Travaile, p. 1G5. Edited 
by R. H.Major. London, 1849. A '•Biscay sballop" and articles of Eu- 
ropean clotliing are mentioned in Archer's account of Gosnold's voyage, at 
"Savage Rock" (C. Neddoc), in 1002, Mass. Hist. Coll., 3d series, vol. 8, 
p. 73.— Ed.] 

I The exact date of this discovery is given neither by Herrera, nor, so 
far as 1 know, by any other Spanish author. 



406 DISCOVERS OF BEEMTJDA. 

wliom it received its name, though it was also called by the 
Spaniards, " La Garga." 

Soon after this island was discovered, the king of Spain 
desired to plant a colony there ; and in 1527, Hernando 
Camelo, a Portuguese from the Azores, offered to make a 
settlement. He concluded with the Spanish government a 
contract, by which he engaged to carry over to the Bermu- 
das cattle, seeds, plants, and men, and to establish, within 
four years, a settlement of Portuguese and Spaniards ; and 
in consideration of this service, he received the appointment 
of governor of the Bermudas. 

The reason for this anxiety of the king of Spain, that a 
plantation should be effected at the Bermudas, is given by 
Herrera as follows : " That nearly all his West Indian fleets 
passed the vicinity of uninhabited islands, and that it would 
be a great advantage for them to have a hospitable station 
on their rout^. He hoped, also, that by the cultivation 
of the Bermudas, the swamps on them might disappear, 
which were considered to be a cause of the bad weather and 
of the great gales usually prevailing about those islands." 
Had such a Spanish colony been established at the Bermudas, 
growing out of the colonies at the Azores and Canaries, it 
would probably have given rise to another Spanish planta- 
tion on our coast. But Herrera, who tells us all this, adds, 
that " notwithstanding all the promises of Camelo, and all 
the advantages conceded to him by the king, no colonization 
of the island was effected ; and that up to his time, 1600, he 
could find no record of any renewal of the attempt."* And 
as for the Bermudas' gales, they of course were not done 
away witli. 

How intimately the Bermudas are connected by their po- 
sition with the history of the discovery of our coast, became 

* Herrera, Dec. IV, lib. 2, cap. 6. 



DE SOTO'S EXrEDITION, 1538-1543. 407 

still more evident at a later time, when tliey were rediscov- 
ered by tlie English on their expedition to Virginia ; and 
then planted by an English colony. 

On the chart of Ribero, only three yeai's after their dis- 
covery, the Bermudas are placed in their true latitude, 32° 
N., and nearly at their true distance from our coast. They 
may be used sometimes as a way-mark, in examining the po- 
sition of certain localities on our coast. 

I now return to the expedition of De Soto, 1538-1543. 
In the course of three years he marched over a large portion 
of our southeni country, exploring and taking possession of 
it for the crown of Spain. From his landing-place on the 
west coast of Florida, he proceeded first to the north-east, 
and came to that part of the east coast which Ayllon had 
visited in 1526, and among the Indians of the region now 
known as South Carolina found Spanish arms and iron im- 
plements. Some of his companions suggested the reasonable 
idea, that a settlement might be made on this part of the coast 
for the benefit of Spanish navigation and commerce. But 
De Soto's imagination was occupied with schemes which he 
thought more profitable, and much grander. A conqueror 
of Peru, he could not descend to so small a -matter as found- 
ing a colony for merchants. He thought of the conquest of 
another Peru, and another Atabalipa, to be accomplished in 
the interior of North America. Leaving, therefore, the oceanic 
route and the sea-shore, he marched into the interior, at first 
in a north-north-western direction, probably along the Savan- 
nah River. On this route he came to a great mountain-range, 
running parallel with the coast. He and his company were 
the first Europeans who had seen this range of mountains in 
its southern section ; the northern section, on the northern 
frontier of Maine, had been seen at a distance by Cartier in 



408 DE SOTO'S EXPEDITION, 1538-1543. 

1535. De Soto gave them the name of " mountains of 
Apalache," which found a place on the 'maps of the middle 
of the sixteenth century.* The obstructions which he found 
in the passes of these mountains turned him toward the south- 
west and the Gulf of Mexico, where he had left his fleet 
under his captain, Diego Maldonado. His most northern ter- 
minus on the Alleghany range, may be put in about 30° 40' 
N., not far from Clayton. f 

From the Gulf of Mexico, De Soto set out again with 
fresh courage in a north-western direction ; and after trav- 
ersing a large part of the present States of Alabama and 
Mississippi, reached the banks of the " Great Eiver of Flor- 
ida" (the Mississippi), at some point in its interior section, 
which was then seen for the first time by Europeans, though 
its mouth had been known to the Spaniards since the expe- 
dition of Pineda in 1519, under the name of " Rio del Es- 
piritu Santo." De Soto explored this river to a point as high 
as about the mouth of the Ohio ; and having experienced 
great hardships there, and encountered many perils in con- 
flict with the savage tribes, and performed many gallant ex- 
ploits, this heroic conqueror died without having gained the 
objects of his enterprise, and was buried in the waves of the 
great river which he had discovered. A part of his company, 
after many other adventures, and after a toilsome and ardu- 
ous march still further west to the " country of the wild 
cows," at last sailed down the Mississippi to the gulf, and pro- 
ceeded to Mexico, where the miserable remnant of this ill- 
fated expedition arrived in the summer of 1543, after an ab- 
sence of five years. De Soto appears to have gone as far 
north as 38° ; and in this space, though he had failed to find 

* See our map of Mercator, No. 22.5 

t [In Georgia, at the base of the Blue Ridge, about 180 miles from Mil- 
ledgeville.— Ed.] 



MALDONADO'S EXPEDITION, 1541. 409 

the salt-water of the South Sea, had made a discovery almost 
as grand in the magnificent River Mississippi. As lie saw- 
its great affluents pouring in on one side and on the other, 
he must have become impressed with tlie idea, that they 
could come only from the territory of an immense conti- 
nent, extending to high northern latitudes. In like manner 
the discoverer of the St. Lawrence must have become im- 
pressed with the vastness of the continent in which its tril)u- 
tary rivers had their origin. And thus both Cartier and De 
Soto must have learned, that the great Western Ocean of 
which they were in pursuit, must be very far distant ; and 
that, contrary to the former views and the delineations of the 
old maps, the western half of North America must have the 
vast dimensions which they are now known to possess ; thus 
securing to the States on the east coast a spacious and ade- 
quate back-ground. 

The names introduced by De Soto, and the information 
imparted by him in the reports of his discoveries, furnished 
the ground-work of the geography of the whole south of the 
United States, and the principal source of knowledge regard- 
ing these regions, for more than a hundred years. 

The closing expedition of De Soto gave rise to extensive 
voyages, which, reaching as far as the New England coasts, 
are specially interesting to us, although unhappily we have 
but little information regarding them. These expeditions 
were undertaken by his wife, the accomplished Isabella de 
Bobadilla. During the absence of her husband, she resided 
at Havana, and had charge of the government of Cuba. Her 
anxiety for the safety of her husband, kept her continually 
on the watch for him ; and at last, troubled and distressed by 
his long absence, she fitted out an expedition under command 
of De Soto's faithful captain, Diego Maldonado, to go in 
search of him. The principal account of this voyage is given 



410 MALDONADO'S EXPEDITION, 1541. 

by Garcilasso de la Vega, who says that MalJoiuuh), in ir)40, 
having explored the coast of the Gulf of Mexico for his ab- 
sent chief without success, extended his seai'ch in ir)41, with 
his conip;inion (jionie/ Arias, along the eastern coast as far 
as the country of Bacallaos.* 

This short and meagre report of Garcilasso is adopted by 
Ilerreraf as well as by Barcia ; |" and though they add noth- 
ing to our information regarding it, we can, with such author- 
ities in its su])])ort, scarcely doubt its truth. And if the truth 
of this voyage of Maldonado is admitted, it is obvious from 
its object as a searching expedition, that it must have 
rcfpiired a, very close insj)ection of our coasts. Maldonado 
is repoj'ted to have said " that he could not think the land 
had dcvoiu'ed his chid' and master De Soto and his compan- 
ions, and that somewhere something must be found of them." 
In searching for this "something" of the remains of a lost 
cx])edItion, he would not be satisfied with a general observa- 
tion in looking after these castaways on the broad ocean, but 
would closely inspect every cape on which a distressed crew 
might have left some signs, and every harbor and inlet where* 
they might be still living, or where he might obtain some 
information reo;ardinn; tluun from the natives. 

That this expedition In 1541 " as far as Bacallaos," must 
have involved a thorough search of our coast, may be also 
inferred from the circumstance, that Maldonado, in 1542- 
1543, r(!turncd directly to the gulf without visiting again our 
east coast. He appears to have thought, that he had done his 
best in that region, and satisfied himself that De Soto could 
not have wandered so far away. 

* Garcilasso, 1. c, libro sexto, cap. 20, "no dejaron corrcr toda la Costa, 
per la vanda del Oriento hasta la tierra do Baccallao.s." 
t See Dec. VII, lib. 7, cap. 12. 
I Ensayo Cronol. del seel " Anno 1641." 



MALDOXADO'S EXPEDITION, 1541. 411 

From all these circumstances we are strongly inclined to the 
opinion, that Maldonado's voyage was one of the most care- 
ful and thorough explorations of our east coast ever made by 
the Spaniards, of which any account has come* down to iis. 

It is, therefore, not a little to be regretted, that we are not 
favored with his log and journal. Perhaps we may ascribe 
to hhn the Spanish names on our coast which we occasionally 
find mentioned by Spanish historians, geographers, and map- 
makers of that time, for which we have no other authority. 

I also infer from the quiet way in which Cortes * and other 
writers speak of the voyage from Havana to Baccallaos along 
our coast, that this may have been a regular track for the 
Spaniards, instead of an exceptional instance. 

The bearing of our examination of these early Spanish un- 
dertakings in the southern section of the east coast of the 
United States, during the long period from Columbus to De 
Soto, upon the history and geography of our northern sec- 
tion of the same, may be thus briefly stated: 

By these expeditions, while the true outlines and trending 
of the southern section of this coast became better defined 
and understood, it necessarily followed, that at the same time 
new light would be thrown upon the northern section, as con- 
nected with it. 

The entire navigation of the whole east coast was, by these 
expeditions, made easier and more familiar. 

Several localities in the neighborhood of the northern sec- 
tion of our coasts, as Chesapeake Bay, the Bermudas, and 
other localities, M^ere either first discovered by these expedi- 
tions, or had their position more definitely fixed, and have 
since proved as way-marks for the true interpretation of the 
old charts of our coast. 

*In his above-quoted letter to the emperor in the year 1524. 



412 MALDONADO'S EXPEDITION, 1541. 

In several of the expeditions referred to, occurring during 
the period in question, our north-eastern coasts were specially 
had in view, and were distinctly included in their original 
plan. The Scheme of Cortes in 1524, and of Ayllon in 1526, 
were, equally with that of Gomez in 1525, intended for the 
discovery of a north-west passage. Once at least, during this 
period, our nortliern coast was actually reached in Maldona- 
do's search for De Soto in 1541. 

There is also a probability that some parts of the northern 
section of the east coast of the United States were frequently, 
during this period, at least sighted, if not actually visited by 
the Spaniards, from the circumstance that their vessels and 
fleets so often followed the course of the Gulf-stream, and 
also that the Spanish Basques were then accustomed to resort 
yearly to the Banks of Newfoundland. 



CHAPTER XI. 

THE EXPEDITIONS UNDER KIBAULT AND LATJDONNIERE 
TO FLORIDA, AND THE SPANISH AND ENGLISH UNDER- 
TAKINGS CONNECTED WITH THEM, IN 1562-1574. 



1. The Time between De Soto and Ribault, including 
Thevet's Description of Maine. 

The French expeditions to North America, which com- 
menced soon after the middle of the sixteenth century, were 
directed to the southern section of our east coast, the early 
discovery of which we have considered in a former chapter. 

These voyages were in several ways connected with the 
great English expeditions subsequently undertaken to " Vir- 
ginia" both "Southern" and "Northern." The French 
captains tried new oceanic routes to our east coast, which were 
afterwards followed by the English. Their pilots brought to 
"Virginia" Captain John Hawkins, one of the most fa- 
mous of English navigators. Their writings and their charts 
upon the part of the east coast explored by them were car- 
ried to England, and spread information, and awakened a gen- 
eral excitement in regard to these countries. Thus the 
French captains, Ribault, Laudonnicre and others, prepared 
the way for Gilbert, Raleigh, and Grenville, by whom the 
work of discovery was carried forward, both in the northern 
' and southern sections of our east coast, until it was at length 
completed in its central portion of New England and New 
York, by the discoveries of Gosnold, of Pring, of Wey- 
mouth, of Hudson, and Smith. It will, therefore, be instruc- 



414 EXPEDITIONS TO ELOEIDA, 1562-1574. 

tive to give a short account of these French explorers, who 
may justly be considered as the precursors of the later Eng- 
lish adventurers, and to point out the facts in tlieir history 
which had an influence on the subsequent expeditions of 
the English to Virginia ; omitting, hoAvever, those specialties 
which belong exclusively to the history of the Southern States. 

I will first briefly review the events which occurred be- 
tween the expeditions of De Soto at the south (1540-1543), 
and of his contemporaries Cartier and Roberval at the north 
(1534-1543), and the French expeditions under Ribault and 
others in 1562. During these twenty years, we do not know 
that any official expeditions were made to the east coast. 
We do not hear of the arrival there of a single vessel. The 
Spaniards may have been deterred by the sad fate of De Soto 
and his companions ; though one would suppose that the ac- 
counts of pearls and other riches of " Cotifachique," the re- 
gion along the Savannah described in the reports on De Soto, 
would have attracted adventurers to the place. Some Span- 
ish movements for a further exploration of the Gulf of ]\Iexi- 
co and the Mississippi were agitated ; but Ayllon and De 
Soto had no successors on the east coast for many years. 
Nor do we know of any English expeditions having been 
undertaken to our east coast, or the West Indies, during that 
time. 

But in 1562, all this was changed ; and the French then 
commenced their expeditions to our east coast. This action 
aroused the Spaniards, as well as the English, to renewed 
adventures in these regions. 

The sovereigns of France, however, were too much occu- 
pied by foreign wars and domestic troubles, to give atten- 
tion to these remote undertakings. But private individuals, 
during the middle portion of the sixteenth century, stimulated 
by Catholic persecutions at home, became very active in pros- 



YILLEGAGNON'S EXPEDITION. 415 

ecuting voyages to the new world, to establish Protestant col- 
onies on American soil. Some of the French sea-ports became 
strong-holds of the Huguenots. Their most prominent sup- 
porter, Coligny, was high admiral of France. These Hu- 
guenots looked toward the new countries as the proper field 
in which to secure a retreat from persecution, and to found a 
new religious commonwealth. Probably many of the French 
"corsarios" following the track of the Portuguese and Span- 
iards to the West Indies and the coasts of Brazil, were 
Huguenots, and in cruising; against the Catholic kings of 
Spain and Portugal, the French Huguenots would be less 
scrupulous than the Catholic subjects of France. 

The first scheme for a Protestant colony in the new world 
was suggested by Admiral Coligny in 1554, and intended for 
the coast of Brazil, to which an expedition, under Durand de 
Villegagnon, was sent with ships and colonists. This expe- 
dition arrived at the Bay of Rio Janeiro in 1555, and found- 
ed there the first European settlement. It was followed the 
next year by another expedition. But the whole enterprise 
came to an end by divisions among the colonists, occasioned 
by the treacherous, despotic, and cruel proceedings of its 
commander, a reputed Catholic. The colony was finally 
subverted by the Portuguese, who, in 1560, sent out an arm- 
ament against it, and took possession of the Bay of Rio de 
Janeiro. 

This Brazilian scheme of the French Huguenots is made 
particularly interesting to us by the fact, that Andre Thevet, 
a celebrated French traveler and cosmographer, who was one 
of that company, was thereby induced to visit and describe 
our east coast, and particularly the coast of Maine. 

After having entered the order of the Franciscans, and 
completed his studies, he commenced his career as a traveler 
by visiting Asia and the Holy Land ; on his return from 



41G THE VET'S EXPEDITION, 1556. 

which, in 1554, desiring to see the new world, he embarked 
in 1555 with Villegagnon. In 1556 * he returned to France, 
and the vessel in which he took passage appears to have sailed 
along the entire east coast both of South and North Amer- 
ica, as far north as the "Baccallaos." This appears from 
several passages in his two well-known works : " Les singu- 
laritdz de la France antarctique, autrement nomme Aradri- 
que " (the singularities of antarctic France, otherwise called 
America), and " La cosmographie universelle," which he 
wrote after his return, and after having become " Aumon- 
ier" of Catharine de Medici, and historiographer and cos- 
mographer of the king of France. 

Thevet says in these works, that in 1556 he sailed along 
the entire coast of Florida, then comprising the whole east 
coast of North America, and in the course of this voyage 
visited also the coast of Norumbesa. In his " Cosmocrra- 
phy," he gives the following highly interesting description of 
his visit to this remon : 

" Having left La Florida on the left hand, with all its Isl- 
ands, gulfs, and capes, a river presents itself, which is one of 
the finest rivers in the whole world (une des belles rivieres 
qui soit en toute la terre), which we call ' Norumbegue,' and 
the aborigines ' Agency,' and which is marked on some ma- 
rine charts as the Grand River (meaning Penobscot Bay). 
Several other beautiful rivers enter into it; and upon its 
banks the French formerly erected a little fort about ten or* 
twelve leagues from its mouth, which was surrounded by 
fresh-water, and this place was named the Fort of Norum- 
begue. ^ 

" Some pilots would make me believe, that this country 
(Norumbegue) is the proper country of Canada. But I 
told them that this was far from the truth, since this country 

* See upon this, Jocber, Gelebrten-Lexicon, vol. 4, p. 1130. Leipzig, 1751. 



THEVET'S EXPEDITION, 1556. 417 

lies in 43° N., and that of Canada in 50 or 52°. Before you 
enter the said river appears an island (Fox Island) surround- 
ed by eight very small islets, which are near the country of 
the gi'cen mountains (Camden Hills ?), and to the Cape of 
the islets (Cabo de muchas islas?). From there you sail 
all along unto the mouth of the river, which is danger- 
ous from the great number of thick and high rocks ; and 
its entrance is wonderfully large. About three leagues into 
the river, an island presents itself to you, that may have 
four leagues in circumference (Long Island, now Islesboro'), 
inhabited only by some fishermen and birds of different sorts, 
which island they call ' Aiayascon,' because it has the form 
of a man's arm, which they call so. Its greatest length is 
from north to south. It would be very easy to plant on this 
island, and build a fortress on it to keep in check the Avhole 
surrounding country. Having landed and put our feet on 
the adjacent country, we perceived a great mass of people 
coming down upon us from all sides in su.ch numbers, that 
you might have supposed them to have been a flight of star- 
lings. Those which marched first, were the men which they 
call ' Aquelmns.' After them came the women, which they 
call ' Peragruastas,' then the ' Adegestas,' being the children, 
and the last were the girls, called ' Aniusgestas.' And all 
this people was clothed in skins of wild animals, which they 
call ' Rabatatz.' Now considering their aspect and manner of 
proceeding, we mistrusted them, and went on board our ves- 
sel. But they, perceiving our fear, lifted their hands into the 
air, making signs that we should not mistrust them ; and for 
making us still more sure, they sent to our vessel some of 
their principal men, which brought us provisions. In recom- 
pense of this, we gave them a few trinkets of a low i)rice, by 
which they were highly pleased. The next morning I, with 
some others, was commissioned to meet them, and to know 
27 



418 THEVET'S EXPEDITION, 155G. 

whether tliey would be indined to assist us with more 
victuals, of which we were very much in need. But having 
entered into the house, which they call ' Canoque,' of a certain 
little king of theirs, which called himself ' Peramich,' we saw 
several killed animals hanging on the beams of the said house, 
which he had prepared (as he assured us) to send to us. 
This chief gave us a very hearty welcome, and to show us 
his affection, he ordered to kindle a fire, which they call 
' Azista,' on which the meat was to be put and fish, to be roast- 
ed. Upon this some rogues came in to bring to the king the 
heads of six men, which they had taken in war and massa- 
cred, which terrified us, fearing that they might treat us in 
the same way. But toward evening we secretly retired to 
our ship Avithout bidding good-by to our host. At this he 
was very much irritated, and came to us the next morning 
accompanied by three of his children, showing a mournful 
countenance, because he thought that we had been dissatis- 
fied with him ; and he said in his language : ' Cazigno, Cazigno 
Casnouy danga addagriu' (that is, let us go, let us go on 
land, my friend and brother) ; ' Coaquoca Ame Couascon 
Kazaconny ' (come to drink and to eat, what we have) ; ' Ar- 
ea somioppach Quenchia dangua ysmay assomaka ' (we assure 
you upon oath by heaven, earth, moon, and stars, that you 
shall fare not worse than our own persons). 

" Seeing the good affection and will of this old man, some 
twenty of us went again on land, every one of us with his 
arms ; and then v/e went to his lodgings, where we were 
treated, and presented with what he possessed. And mean- 
while great numbers of people arrived, caressing us and 
offering themselves to give us pleasure, saying that they were 
our friends. Late in the evening, when Ave were willing 
to retire and to take leave of the company with actions of 
gratitude, they would not give us leave. Men, women, 



THE VET'S EXPEDITION, 1550. 419 

cliiklren, all entreated us «ealously to stay with tlicm, crying 
out these words : ' Cazigno agnyda hoa ' (my friends, do not 
start from here ; you shall sleep this niglit ^¥ith us). But 
they could not harangue so well as to persuade us to sleep 
with them. And so we retired to our vessel ; and having 
remained in this place five full days, we weighed anchor, 
parting from the^n with a marvellous contentment of both 
sides, and went out to the open sea." 

Though Thevet is not esteemed as a very reliable author, 
still I think this description of Penobscot Bay is the best we 
have had, except that given by Gomez on his chart of 1525, 
and copied on the map of Ribero in 1529. His descrip- 
tion is very accurate, indicating a longer stay, and is alto- 
gether, with the Indian words contained in it, so remarkable, 
that I have given it in full.* 

If Thevet is right in his statement, that his countrymen 
had, before his visit to Penobscot Bay in 1556, erected there 
a fort, this must have been the first settlement of Europeans 
ever made on the coast of Maine. It may have been a little 
French station for fishino-, and for the fur trade. 

Penobscot is the only portion of the wliole east coast of 
America which Thevet has described in such detail. The 
other rivers, the capes, and islands of Maine and Nova Scotia, 
which he incidentally mentions, are not easily identified, and 
his observations on them are not of any value. He says that 
he sailed from Norumbega to Newfoundland, and even to 
Labrador ; and thence he appears to have returned to France 
by way of the Azores. 

* See Andre Thevet, " La cosmograpbie universelle," torn. 2, fol. 1008, 
1009, Paris, 1575; also, " Les SingulariWz de la France antarctique," fols. 
143, 145, 158, 161, Anvers, 1558. The description of the " Kiver of Norum- 
bega," as given by Thevet, has been copied in many geographical works; 
for instance, in Wytfliet, " Descriptionis Ptolemaick; augmentuni," p. 97, 
Lovaaii, 1597. 



420 THEVET'S EXPEDITION, 1556. 

Thevet, several times in his w«rks, mentions the French 
pilot Guillaume le Testa as a mariner " with whom he often 
sailed," and it is not improbable that he commanded the 
ship which took Thevet, in 1556, along the coast of Florida 
to Norumbega, and that the whole credit of this voyage should 
be given to him. He is also known as the composer of a 
Portulano, preserved in the collections of the Depot de la 
marine in Paris.* 

Thevet's description of Penobscot Bay, and his remarks 
on the coast of Maine are the last, so far as I know, con- 
tained in any work before the year 1578, the beginning of a 
new period. 

For a long time after Thevet, the authors Avho have de- 
scribed the northern parts of the east coast of the United 
States, mention nothing except the " Rio de las Gamas,'" 
or " the great river of Norumbega." The celebrated Span- 
ish historian Herrera, in his description of the West Indies, 
first published in Madrid in 1601, after having described the 
coast of Florida as high north as St. Helena Sound in 32° 
has the following : " Beyond St. Helena, there are as yet 
no other settlements ; though the coast has been discovered 
and sailed along by several nations at different times. There 
are many rivers and harbors on the coast; but because they 
are not very well known, I will not mention them, except the 
Rio de las Gamas, otherwise called the great river of Sta. 
Maria, which is very great and winding, and stands about 
in the middle of the coast, toward the Bacallaos, from whence 
the great river of Ochelaga (St. Lawrence), enters the coun- 
try, which has been repeatedly explored by foreigners. "f 

* See Major, " Early Voyages to Terra Australis," p. 30. London, 1859. 
t See Herrera, " Descripciou de la India Occidentalis," p. 20. Madrid, 
1601. 



EIBAULT'S FIRST VOYAGE, 1562. 421 



2. First Exploring Expedition of Captain Jean Ribault 
FROM Havre de Grace to the East Coast of Flor- 
ida, Georgia, and South Carolina, in 15G2. 

After the unfortunate end of the French enterprise to 
South America, Admiral Cohgny, who may be styled the 
Raleigh of France,* turned his attention to the eastern 
shores of North America ; the whole of whicli had become 
known in France from the voyage of Verrazano, and the 
French expeditions to Canada and the Banks of Newfound- 
land. • It is very probable, that Coligny had studied the ex- 
pedition of Verrazano made under Francis I. in 1524, and 
that his North American undertaking may, in some respects, 
be considered as a continuation of that voyage. Coligny must 
also be supposed to have been acquainted with the Spanish 
expeditions to the east coast under Ayllon ; for the expedi- 
tions both of Verrazano and Ayllon are several times alluded 
to in Ribault's reports, which also contain Spanish names 
introduced by Ayllon. 

None of the reports of the officers commanding this expedi- 
tion, or the subsequent French expeditions, make any allusion 
to the establishment of an asylum for French Protestants, 
which was the principal object of Coligny in these undertak- 
ings. They only say, that Coligny was " desirous of discov- 
ering and exploring new countries, and advancing the power 
and glory of France." 

The project could be successful only under some pretext 
like this ; for Charles IX. would, undoubtedly, have refused 
his assent and his ships for an expedition, expressly under- 
taken to relieve the Protestants, and lay the foundation of a 

*The first account, printed in French, of the expeditions set forth by 
Coligny was, after his death, dedicated to Sir Walter Ealeigli. [See Jones's 
Introduction to Hakluyt, Divers Voyages, p. xix. London, 1850. — Ed.] 



422 EIBAULT'S FIRST VOYAGE, 1562. 

Protestant colony or empire. The supposition, that the king 
would readily have given his consent, because he would have 
been glad to be rid of them, seems not to be admissible. The 
Catholic party desired to destroy the Huguenots, and to leave 
no escape for them. The Brazilian adventure received the 
approbation of Henry H, only because Coligny demonstrated 
to him, that it Avould 1)e advantageous to France " to divide 
the riches of Brazil with the kino; of Portugal." 

However this may be, there is no doubt that the first ex- 
pedition sent to our shores by Coligny, under the command 
of Captain Jean Ribault, was intended to be a mere explor- 
ing expedition, preliminary to a subsequent settlement. The 
whole outfit of the expedition proves this ; consisting, as it 
did, only of two small vessels (deux roberges du Roi), "of 
such make and burden," says Ribault, "as those which Ver- 
razano had." * We hear nothing of the embarking of women, 
or of implements necessary for a colony. 

The particular instructions which Coligny framed for this 
expedition are not preserved. Ribault probably alludes to 
them in the beginning of his account, where he says, that 
he was " chosen and appointed by Coligny to discover and 
survey a certain long coast of the West India from the head 
of the lande, called Laflorida, drawing toivard the nortlie 23art 
unto the head of Britons (Cape Breton), distant from the 
saide head of Laflorida 900 leagues or there about : to the 
ende wee might certifie to the Admiral, and make true report 
of the temperature, fertilitie, Portes, Havens, Rivers and 
generally of all the commodities, that bee scene and found 
in that lande," .... so " That Fraunce might one day 
throuo;h newe discoveries have knowledfre of strano:e Coun- 



*See Ribault's report in Hakluyt's Divers Voyages, p. 92. Londorij 
1»50. 



RIBAULT'S FIRST VOYAGE, 1562. 428 

tries, and also thereof to receive, Ly means of continuall 
trafficke, riclie and inestimable commodities," etc.* 

From this it is quite evident that the plan was, to make an 
exploration of the entire extent of our east coast, and that the 
account of Verrazano's voyaf7;e was present to the minds of 
those who designed this expedition. 

What further outfit and apparatus for exploration, what 
instruments, what charts or books were provided for the expe- 
dition, we are not informed ; but we learn, that among the 
crew were some pilots and sailors " who had been on the 
coast before." f We are left to conjecture, whether these 
persons were perhaps boys in Verrazano's expedition, now 
become old sailors ; or Spanish pilots, engaged for this un- 
dertaking; or some of the crew of Cartier or Roberval, or of 
some unknown French adventurers. The latter supposition 
is the most probable. 

What claim Jean Ribault had, from any past services in 
this direction or elsewhere, to be appointed to command this 
expedition, we do not know. His principal companion was 
Rdn^ de Laudonniere, who is called by some his second in 
command, of whose merits and claims for the position we are 
also ignorant. 

Ribault sailed from Havre de Grace on the 18th of Febru- 
ary, 1562. Like Yerrazano, he was, at the outset, assailed by 
a furious tempest, and obliged to seek shelter to refit his 
vessels in another harbor of France ; and " thought it good 
to fall into the road of Brest," when, " after two days' tar- 
rying, he returned from there again to seawarde, to follow 
his navigation." 

He was determined to pursue an altogether " new route or 
course which had not been yet attempted.'''' Previous to that 

* Ribault, 1. c. p. 91. 
t Ribault, 1. c. p. 114. 



424 EIBAULT'S FIRST VOYAGE, 1562. 

time mariners, sailing to any part of the coast south of 
Canada, had thought it necessary to follow a southern course 
as far as the Canary Islands, or Madeira, when they would 
fall in with the trade-winds ; then to touch at the Antilles 
and Lucayos, to obtain fresh supplies ; exactly as had been 
done by the Spaniards ever since the time of Columbus.* 

This route, which might be called the Spanish route, had 
been followed by Verrazano, at least as far as Madeira. 

Without <xoino; so far south, Ribault struck out from France 
at once into the broad Western Ocean " on a more directly 
western course;''' which is, as he says, " the true and short 
course that hereafter must be kept to the honor of the French 
nation, rejecting the old conserved opinion which a long time 
has been holden as true."f 

He intended to introduce "a national French high road" 
in a more northern latitude ; and, as we learn from his book, 
places a high value on this " new invention," speaking in 
high terms of it, no doubt with much truth ; for it is very 
probable, that he passed through some regions of the ocean 
which had not been navigated before from east to west. We 
cannot designate his track exactly, as he gives vis no particu- 
lars about the courses and bearings which he followed. Prob- 
ably he went north of the Azores and Bermudas ; and then 
by degrees turned further south, and struck our coast not far 
north of Lucayos (the Bahamas). 

His track most resembles that of Verrazano ; but at first, 
he sailed in a more northern, and at last in a more southern 
latitude than Verrazano, whose track he crossed in about the 
latitude of the Bermudas. Verrazano's land-fall was in 34° 
N. ; Ribault's in about 30° N. 

The similarity betAveen the tracks of Ribault and Verra- 

* Ribault, 1. c. p. 95. 
t Ibid. 






EIBAULT'S FIRST VOYAGE, 15C2. 425 

zano proves, that the voyage of the foi'mer Avas planned after 
the model of the latter. Like Verrazano, he crossed the 
ocean north of the trade-winds ; and, like him, made his land- 
fall on our coast a little north of the peninsula of Florida ; 
and thence, like him, he sailed along our coast to the north- 
east. 

I have been somewhat particular about Ribault's " new 
route," because he was afterwards followed on this course by 
an English navigator. In the year 1602, Capt. Bartholomew 
Gosnold, sailing from England to Norumbega, intended, like 
Ribault, " to make a short cut ; " and, carrying out this 
intention, he made the coast of Maine by a more direct and 
much shorter route than had before been practised, as will be 
seen hereafter. Ribault's course has this particular interest 
for us, that it prepared the way for Gosnold and other adven- 
turers to the " north part of Virginia." 

Ribault arrived on our coast at a head-land in the neighbor- 
hood of the present harbor of St. Augustine, which he named 
"Cape Francois" (French Cape). From this point he 
sailed north, looking for a harbor. He discovered the mouth 
of a fine-looking river, to which he gave the name " La riviere 
de May," because he saw it on the first of the month of 
May (now St. Mary's Rivei*). He lay there at anchor from 
the 1st to the 3d of May, making meanwhile frequent excur- 
sions in his boats on the river, which he found closed by a bar 
of sand, and inaccessible to lai'ge vessels. 

The aspect of the country appeared to him enchanting, its 
climate and temperature delightful, the river " boiling with 
swarming fishes," the inhabitants extremely peaceful and of 
the most friendly disposition ; and, in short, he expresses him- 
self with great joy and satisfaction at everything he saw. 
His account reminds us of the first enthusiastic report of Co- 
lumbus on his landing in the Antilles ; nor were his delusions 
less than those of Columbus. 



426 EIBAXJLT'S FIRST VOYAGE, 1562. 

He tliouglit that he found in the forests and shrubs on the 
banks of the river the Indian pepperplant, roots hke rhubarb, 
different sorts of small spices, and silk-worms " bigger than 
those in Europe." Among the Indians, he found signs of 
copper, gold, silver, and pearls " as faire as in any country 
in the world." He saw an Indian " who had a pearle hanging 
at a collar of golde and silver about his necke, as great as an 
acorne, at the least." And upon the whole, the country was 
so enchanting " as no pen could describe it," * 

These exaggerated descriptions of Ribault, so similar to 
those of former discoverers, were not without influence upon 
the subsequent history of our coast. Having been translated 
into English, and published in England, with a dedication to 
Sir Walter Raleigh, and generally read there, and having 
been followed in the same style by several English writers, 
they exerted an important influence in preparing the way for 
subsequent English undertakings to the same or neighboring 
regions. 

One of the first inquiries which Ribault made of the In- 
dians, was for " the country of Cibola," or " the vSeven 
Cities," wdiich the first Spanish expeditions from INIexico to 
the North, under Marco de Ni9a and Coronado, had again 
made to be objects of interest. Ribault thought that this 
Eldorado might be reached from the Atlantic, as well as the 
Pacific! He understood from the Indians of his May River, 
that there w^as only a boat's voyage of twenty days to this 
south-sea land. The Indians probably spoke of the Mexi- 
can Gulf, which Ribault understood to be the South Sea. He 
was disappointed in not being able to undertake this expedi- 
tion at once ; but he had not found a safe harbor where he 
could moor his vessels, and therefore resolved to look for one 
north of May River. 

* See Ribault's description, 1. c. p. 100-107. 
t Rib.ault, 1. c. pp. 102, 103. 



RIBAULT'S FIRST VOYAGE, 1502. 427 

Before sailing, he erected on a pleasant hill soiith of May 
River, a stone pillar, with the arms of the king of France 
enm-avecl thereon, as a simi that there " the limits of his 
majesty were to commence, and that there should be the end 
of the Spanish dominion in America." 

On the 3d of May he sailed to the north ; his fear of 
encroaching • upon the Spanish claim prevented him from 
advancing further south ; and besides, Verrazano, from his 
land-fall, had proceeded north ; and in the north, were also 
the countries discovered by the French u,nder Cartier and 
Roberval. 

Coastino; alono- he saw the numerous inlets and sounds of 
our present States of Georgia and South Carolina, and gave 
to them French names, which I need not stop to identif}^ 
The soundings of none of them were deep enough for his 
vessels. At last, in about 32° 30' N. he found an excel- 
lent broad and deep harbor, which he named " Port Royal," 
wdiich probably is the present Broad River, or Port Royal 
entrance. Ribault thought it to be the old " Rio Jordan," 
discovered and named by the Spaniard Ayllon. He found 
this port and the surrounding country so advantageous and 
of such " singular beauty," that he resolved to leave here 
a part of his men in a small fort. Though he had been 
commissioned for exploring only, yet he thought that Ad- 
miral Coligny would not insist on this instruction. A pillar 
with the arms of France Avas therefore erected, and a fort 
constructed, furnished with cannon, ammunition, and provis- 
ions, and named " Charlesfort." Thirty volunteers were 
placed in it, and it became the second European settlement 
ever attempted upon the east coast of the United States. 
Its position was probably not far from the site of the present 
town of Beaufort, on Port Royal River. 

Having accomplished this, and made a certain captain, 



428 EIBAULT'S FIRST VOYAGE, 1562. 

Albert de la Pieria, " a soldier of great experience," com- 
mander of Charlesfort, he took leave of liis countrymen, and 
left Port Royal on the 11th day of June, sailing north "with 
the intention to explore the east coast of New France " 
(North America) as far as the fortieth degree of north lati- 
tude.* 

Ribault gives no reason for limiting himself -to this lati- 
tude, or why he did not proceed further north, according to 
his instructions. But we can scarcely doubt, that in this he 
was governed by the example of Verrazano, who had found 
at New York a most beautiful harbor, from Avhich he had 
been suddenly driven in a squall, to his no small regret. He 
had, in nearly the same latitude, remained a fortnight in the 
admirable harbor of our present Newport, of which he had 
spoken in higli terms of praise in his letter to Francis I. 

Ribault, as well as Coligny, was without doubt, as I have 
said, acquainted with Verrazano's voyage and report ; and 
had therefore in view these localities in sailino- north, althouo-h 
he did not advance far in this direction. 

He soon found himself in shallow water, and the weather 
appears to have been cloudy and threatening.! One morn- 
ing he assembled all his officers and men, and in a general 
consultation laid before them the reasons for a quick and 
direct return to France. The principal were tlie following : 
the want of provisions, a portion of which they had left with 
their colonists ; the crew had also been weakened by the same 
cause, and were not sufficient to man the boats properly,^ 
the two vessels not being able to spare thirty such men as were 
left in the fort ; and it was also said, that it would be useful 
to carry to Admiral Coligny the news of Avhat had been 
done, as soon as possible, so that proper measures might be 
speedily taken for sending relief and reinforcements to the 

* Ribault, 1. c. p. 114. f Ibid. J Ibid. 



KIBAULT'S FIRST VOYAGE, 1562. 429 

colony. It was urged, in addition, by some who had before 
been in the north, that the weather would grow worse, and 
dangers increase, if they should proceed further ; and that 
vessels, designed for exploring in that quarter, should be 
better provided with cables and other equipments.* 

Ribault and his officers therefore concluded to leave the 
coast, give up their further progress to the north-east, and 
" to take their way toward the east, which was the true route 
and course for France;" f which they consequently did. 

The place of that consultation, and the termination of Ri- 
bault's north-eastern progress along our coast, were probably 
the shoals off Cape S. Romain ; for that is the only place 
where, in this latitude, at a distance of five leagues from shore, 
such low soundings are found as are described in Ribault's 
report. 

It seems clear from the reasons given in the general con- 
sultation above spoken of, that the suspension of a further 
survey of the north-east coast as far as Cape Breton, or at 
least to 40° N., was owing to the establishment of the fort 
and colony at Port Royal, which was contrary to Ribault's 
commission. By this accidental, hasty, and unfortunate col- 
onization, to which he had been induced by his enthusiasm 
for those southern regions, he had so diminished his crew, 
his supplies, and equipment, that he w%as unable to proceed 
further. Anxiety and care for the small colony he had left 
on a wild coast pressed upon him, so that he felt obliged to 
neglect his instructions for exploration, and hasten to France 
to procure relief for his colonists. 

It was, I think, a great mistake in Ribault to plant a colony 
from an armament not fitted out for such a purpose, but only 

*Eibault, 1. c. p. 114. 

t Laudonnwre's report in the work, "L'histoire notable de la Florida," 
p. 21. Paris, 158G. 



430 RIBAULT'S FIRST VOYAGE, 15G2. 

for a preliminary exploring voyage. He ought steadily and 
promptly to have surveyed the whole east coast, as was 
intended at the outset, and to have brought home to Coligny 
exact reports of all its harbors and ports, as he was ordered 
to do. Coligny could then have selected the most favorable 
locality for his future colony, and have fitted out an expedi- 
tion better adapted for a permanent settlement. 

It was a mistake in Ribault to have colonized at all ; and a 
still greater, that he planted where he did. He built his nest 
too near the colonies of the Spaniards, who Avere of course 
jealous of such a proceeding, and consequently soon attacked 
the fort and overwhelmed the colony. It is probable that he 
was influenced in this selection of a site by the general im- 
pression, that gold, spices, and other rich commodities were 
found only at the south, and that the north was cold, poor, 
and barren. 

Verrazano had clearly enough designated the place Avhere 
the French, under Ribault, ought to have colonized. They 
should have gone to New York or Narraganset Bay, which 
had been declared by Verrazano to offer the best harbors on 
the whole east coast. There they would have been at a good 
distance from territory claimed by Spain, and quite near to 
the regions of Newfoundland, where the French shipping and 
fishing interests were so great, and to Canada, of which the 
French had long before taken possession, and where nobody 
would contest their priority. 

It is inconceivable, that the leadincj men could have con- 
sidered attentively the report of Verrazano, which had long 
been printed in Ramusio, and not have been led by it to per- 
ceive, that Newport and New York harbors were the most 
favorable points for the establishment of French colonies, and 
superior to any others on the coast. If Coligny had taken 
the trouble, while studying Verrazano's report more closely, 



PJBAULT'S FIRST VOYAGE, 15G2. 431 

to examine his description of the coast, he probably would 
have corrected Ribault's mistake, and have sent an expedi- 
tion to remove his misplaced colonists in the south, and have 
ordered them to be conducted to the north. There the French 
Protestants would really have found a safe asylum, free from 
annoyance by Spain, and might have had a })ermanent and 
prosperous settlement ; so that we might now have a New 
York with a French, instead of a Dutch substratum. The 
history of New England might also have been aflPected and 
changed by such a proceeding. 

Ribault, without doubt, was a brave soldier and an excel- 
lent man, although perhaps too enthusiastic and impulsive ; 
but we cannot say much for his cosmographical and nautical 
information and intellicrence. If he had known something of 
great circle-sailing, or, as old Sebastian Cabot expressed it, 
" of the reasons of the sphere," he would not have said, as 
he did, " that the true route from the coasts of South Caro- 
lina to northern France lay to the cast." If he had meas- 
ured his return-route on the globe, and not on a plane chart, 
he would have known, that his true and shortest course lay 
along the same shores which he was commissioned to ex- 
plore, as far as Cape Breton and Newfoundland. On his 
homeward voyage, he might have sailed on this route, not far 
from our coast, and while returning toward France have 
made valuable discoveries by the Avay. 

We do not exactly know on what track he returned, as he 
is very brief on this point ; probably it was north of the 
Azores. According to the testimony of Laudonnierc,* he 
arrived in France on the 20th of July, which would be a 
quick voyage of only five Aveeks from Port Royal to Havre 
de Grace, if, as is reported, he left on the 11th of June. 

* Laudouuiiire, 1. c. p. 21. 



432 FATE OF RIBAULT'S COLONY, 1562-63. 



3. The Fate of the French Settlement at Poet 
Royal, 1562-1563. 

On his arrival in France, Ribault found the country in a 
state of great commotion. The civil war between the Hu- 
guenots and the Catholics was raging, and neither the king 
nor the admiral had time to listen to Ribault's solicitations, to 
send rehef to the settlers left in " French Florida." 

Those colonists remained, therefore, during the remainder 
of 1562 *and the following winter, without assistance from 
France ; and after many trials and sufferings, they were at 
last forced, in 1563, to abandon their settlement and the new 
country. The particulars of their operations and movements 
during this time, belong to the special history of Carolina, 
and must be omitted here. But as the fate of the colonists, 
and their homeward voyage, are not without interest for our 
particular object, I will briefly relate them ; pointing out those 
circumstances and events wliich exerted an influence on the 
further development of American discovery.* 

In the midst of their sufferino;s from huno;er and destitu- 
tion, discontent and discord sprang up among the colonists. 
Their captain, Albert, was unable to quell the mutinous 
spirit of which he became the victim, being murdered by his 
revolted soldiers. In his place a man by the name of Barre 
was elected as chief, and under his command it was concluded 
to construct a small vessel to carry the colonists back to 
France, if no supplies should in the mean time come to their 
relief. 

Under many difficulties, and with the assistance of friendly 

* The principal source of information for the history of this French col- 
ony is Lauclonniere's account in " L'Histoire Notable," etc. , fols. 21-32, Paris, 
1586, who appears to have derived his information from some of the sur- 
viving colonists, 



FATE OF EIBATJLT'S COLONY, 1563-63. 433 

Indians, who furnished them with wood, ropes, and provis- 
ions, they finished their vessel ; and no rehef having come 
from France, they put to sea. A most favorable wind accom- 
panied them for a good while ; but when they had made 
about a third of their passage, they were met by calms, and 
were able in three weeks to proceed only tAventy-five leagues. 
For want of Avater and provisions they fell into great dis- 
tress, and at last came to the most horrid extremities, so that 
they sacrificed one of their company in order to sustain the 
rest. 

In this extremity, however, after having worked their way 
along for a considerable distance, they, liad the good fortune 
to discover land. Soon after an English bark a])peared, and 
" gave them meat and drink ;" and " having put on land 
those that Avere most feeble," carried the rest to England.* 

This English vessel is said to have had on board a French 
sailor, " who the year before had returned from Florida with 
Ribault."f This incident, thus particularly mentioned, may 
show, that even then the English were making some prepa- 
ration for a meditated expedition to some part of the south- 
east coast. J This English vessel, guided by a Frenchman 
from Florida, may have been one of the English pioneers to 
those regions. Other French Protestant sailors, wdio, during 
the civil wars could find no employment in their own coun- 
try, may have gone over to England, and entered the English 
service. 

The French sailors picked up by this English vessel, on 

*Laudonni^re, 1. c. fols. 31. 1, 32. 1. 

t Laudonni^re, 1. c. fol. 31. 2. 

t [It is expressly mentioned by Laudonnifere, in connection with tliis in- 
cident, that the English queen " purposed at that time to send into Flori- 
da;" and Hakluyt adds in the margin, " It seemeth he meaneth the voyage 
intended by Stukely." See Hakluyt's Voyages and Navigations, vol. 3, p. 
319, ed. 1600.— Ed.] 

28 



434 LAUDONNIEEE'S EXPEDITION, 1564. 

arriving in England, probably in the autumn of 1563, were 
presented to Queen Elizabeth, The fate of this French col- 
ony in Florida having thus become known in England, sooner 
probably than in France, and the narrative of it having been 
published in English, sooner than in French,* must have led 
the British queen to turn her thoughts thus early toward the 
coasts, which soon after, in her honor, Avere named Virginia ; 
and have bespoken the interest of the English Government 
and people for those enterprises, by which the English race 
was first transferred to American soil. 



4. Second Expedition op the French to Florida, under 
Captain Rene de Laudonniere, in 1564. 

When Ribault returned home in July 1562, a most furi- 
ous civil and religious war was rao-ino; in France, and neither 
Coligny nor the king remembered the colony in America. 
But at the close of 1563, peace was concluded among the 
contending parties, and Coligny reminded the king of the 
poor companions of Ribault left among savages on a wild 
coast, and laid before him a plan for another expedition for 
their relief. 

The king gave permission to the admiral to carry relief to 
his brethren and countrymen ; and thereupon three vessels 
were fitted out, the command of Avhich was given to Captain 
Rene Laudonniere, " a man of much nautical experience," 
and one of Ribault's officers on the first expedition. 

We are not told why Ribault was not again made the com- 
mander ; perhaps his proceedings in those points to which I 
have alluded were not approved. Nor do we know the par- 

* [See Hakhiyt, Epistle Dedicatorie, in his " Divers Voyages," p. 17, 
London edition, 1850. Also, Oldys' Life of Sir Walter Raleigh, p. 80, Oxford, 
1829. Also, Parkmau's "Pioneers of France," p. 32.— Ed.] 



LAUDONNIERE'S EXPEDITION, 15C4. 435 

ticulars of this new expedition in regard to its outfit, or the 
instructions given to Laudonniere. He himself only says, 
that he was sent out " pour aller chercher et secourir les gens 
de Ribault" (to look for Ribault's men, and succor them).* 

It is observable, that Jacques Le Moyne, f a special 
"painter" and "mathematician," was one of the officers of 
the vessels. Coligny commissioned him " to make an accu- 
rate description and map of the country, and drawings of all 
curious objects." It is rare to see officers of tliis kind ap- 
pointed for exploring expeditions in the sixteenth century. 
Le Moyne made the map and drawings required of him, and 
wrote also a short report of the expedition ; but for some time 
after his return, he kept them to himself. Probably not find- 
ing much favor with his king, he afterwards went to Eng- 
land, where he died. After his death, Theodore de Bry 
bought the manuscripts of his widow in 1587, and procured 
a Latin translation of the report, which he published, with 
engravings of the maps and drawings, in his work : " Brevis 
narratio eorum, qua? in Florida . . . acciderunt, etc." (a short 
narrative of what happened in Florida, :|: etc). 

Le Moyne, in his report, gives us some hints about the 
character and destination of the expedition. He says that the 
kino; aave to Laudonniere one hundred thousand francs for 
the outfit, and made him his " locum tenens in the new coun- 
try," and that the Admiral Coligny directed him to engage 
for the expedition as many mechanics and artisans as possible. § 

From the greater number of ships, and the more ample 
equipment, we may conclude that this expedition was in- 
tended, not only to provide relief for the remnant of the first 
colony, but to establish a colony on a larger scale. 

* Laudonniere, 1. c. fol. 33. 1. 

t [Called James Morgues by Hakluyt, 3, p. 301, ed. IGOO— Ed.] 

t See De Bry, " Secunda pars Americai." 

§ See Le Moyne, in De Bry, p. G. 



I 



436 LAUDONNIERE'S EXPEDITION, 1564. 

The party was joined by several young noblemen of the 
best families of France, who equipped themselves at their 
own expense, and " who were desirous to see and explore 
new regions." Some veteran soldiers were added, and " two 
of the most celebrated French mariners of the age, the 
brothers Michael and Thomas Le Vas^eur, were engaged 
as pilots ; so that I can firmly assert," says Le Moyne, " that 
in this expedition went out many men well versed and distin- 
guished in all the arts." 

The ships sailed from Havre on the 22d of April, 1564, 
and proceeded not on Ribault's Jiew " French route," but on 
the old Spanish track, used from the time of Columbus, south- 
wards to the Canaries, and thence Avith the trade-winds to the 
Lesser Antilles. At St. Domingo they took in water, and 
thence proceeded along the Lucoyan Islands to Florida, or 
what they called " Nouvelle France," and more particularly 
" La Floride Francaise," at which they arrived on the 22d of 
June, two months after their departure. The land-fall was 
made in 30° N., and north of" Cape Francois," not far from 
the mouth of Ribault's River May, the present St. Mary's 
River. 

Laudonniere entered the mouth of the river in his boats, 
discovered many delightful spots, numerous cultivated fields, 
a large population, and altogether such a cheerful-looking 
country, that he exclaims, " the place is so pleasant, that 
those which are melancholicke would be inforced to change 
their humor." 

Taking into consideration that " Port Royal," though a 
most excellent harbor, did not offer rich supplies, and was 
poor in provisions, as had been proved by the Frenchmen 
who had suffered there the year before ;* and considering 

* Laudonniere, 1. c. fol. 43. 2. From this passage it is quite clear, that 
Laudonnifere bad been informed in France of the return of Eibault's men 
to England. 



LAUDONKIERE'S EXPEDITION, 15G4. 4S7 

further, that for the present it was more desirable to secure for 
his colony a fertile and agreeable place with only a tolerable 
harbor, than to have the best harbor with a poor country ; 
he resolved to establish his intended colony at the mouth of 
the River May. 

On the southern side of the river, the same side where the 
king's pillar had formerly been erected by Ribault, a few 
leagues from the mouth, Laudonniere built a fort, called, in 
honor of Charles IX, " La Caroline," and erected around it 
various structures for lodgings and storage. 

Having gained in this manner a firm foot-hold, he de- 
spatched one of his vessels, " the Isabeau," to France, to 
carry home the news of his arrival, and his plan of settle- 
ment in the new world, and to ask for succor. He then made 
explorations into the interior, as well as along the " River 
May " and the neighboring " Riviere des Dauphins," the 
present St. John's River. 

It must be remembered, that on Ribault's first voyage, the 
French had understood from the Indians, that "Cevola," the 
famous country of the Seven Cities, and " the other sea," 
which they took to be the South Sea, were distant only a 
boat's voyage of twenty days. Laudonniere had seen among 
them a large piece of silver, which he thought must have come 
from silver mines in the interior ; though it was probably 
Mexican silver cast upon the Florida Keys in the numerous 
shipwrecks already happening in that region. The St. John, 
being deep and broad at its mouth, was supposed by Laudon- 
niere to be a great river, from which the most important re- 
sults might be expected. 

He ordered his carpenter, Jean des Hayes of Dieppe, to 
construct two barks, each forty feet in length, and fit for 
river navigation ;* and employed his officers during the whole 

* Le Moyne, 1. c. p. 9. 



438 LAUDONNIEEE'S EXPEDITION, 1564. 

summer, in a series of excursions up the river nearly to its 
source. In a geographical history of the interior of Florida, 
these French boat-excursions should be fully considered ; but 
we will only state here, that on these occasions a great part 
of the States of Florida and Georgia were explored and de- 
scribed. 

On one of these excursions, some Indians were found in the 
west, who reported wonderful things of the " Montagnes de 
Palassi " (Appalachian Mountains). They said, that at the 
foot of these mountains was a spring " which carried with it 
silver and copper." They gave to the French a piece of this 
copper, which afterwards proved to be pure gold.* 

Laudonniere had intended, when succor should arrive from 
France, to transplant his colony to some place nearer to those 
mountains, on the borders of a river which had its course from 
the north, and which Le Moyne laid down on his map in 
large and conspicuous figures, as a fountain of silver and gold, 
springing out of the " Palassi Mountains," to which was 
added a lono- and interestino- inscrii)tion. Both the fountain 
and inscription were copied in several subsequent maps, and 
had no little influence on the subsequent English expeditions 
to these regions. Whether the French took the name, 
"Palassi," or "Apalatsi,"' from De Soto's "Apalache," or 
learned it in the country itself, we are not informed. f 

Nothing, however, of this coveted wealth fell to the lot of 
Laudonniore's men ; but instead of it want and hunger were 
soon felt : and discontent, discord, and mutiny began to pre- 
vail in their camp. INIany of them were dissatisfied with 
the manner in which Laudonniere conducted the affairs of the 
colony ; some even conspired against him, and proposed to 



* It was a* a later date tried by the gold assayers of Ribault. 
t Laudonniere, 1. c. fol 76. 1. 



LAUDONNIERE'S EXPEDITION, 1.504. 439 

elect another captain, who would give them less work, and 
procure for them gold and silver in greater abundance. 

On the 4th of November, another French vessel, com- 
manded bj Captain Bourdet, arrived off the River May,* It 
was one of those numerous French privateers Avhich probably 
had often visited those regions, but without leaving any 
report of their adventures and discoveries along the east 
coast. Laudonniere delivered to Bourdet some seven or 
eight of his most turbulent and mutinous men to carry to 
France, and took in exchange for them as many of Bourdet's 
crew. But those he received were even worse than those 
he gave ; for Bourdet's men were probably accustomed to 
fill their pockets in an easier way than it was possible to 
do in a regular plantation ; they therefore persuaded some of 
Laudonniere's soldiers, to take possession of the ships of the 
colony, and to give chase to richly laden Spanish vessels. 
This proposition was at once adopted and carried into effect 
by a seditious party ; and Laudonniere Avas obliged to transfer 
to the mutineers some of his best and most faithful pilots. 

These French rebels had many interesting adventures in 
the Spanish ^eas, where they did much mischief, capturing and 
destroying Spanish vessels, and exciting the anger of the 
Spaniards, who now had good reason to consider this French 
colony as a nest of pirates, and treated them accordingly. 
Some of these French mutineers were captured by the Span- 
iards, who used one of them as a guide to show where the 
French colony was situated.f One of the French piratic ves- 
sels returned to the River May in March 1565, after many 
adventures, the well-disposed portion of the crew having over- 
powered the mutineers ; and Laudonniere, after having con- 
demned and shot the ringleaders, received the rest back into 
his service. 

* Laudonniere, 1. c. fol. 61. 2 secx. 
t Laudonniere, 1. c. fols. 62. 2-68. 



440 VOYAGE OF HAWKINS, 1565. 

Hoping that before the end of April 1565, they would 
receive relief and succor from France, Laudonnidre for some 
time freely used the provisions which they had mostly gath- 
ered on foraging excursions from the Indians. But when 
the month of May approached, and no succor appeared, they 
fell into extreme want and misery, and decided to return to 
France. For this purpose they built and put in readiness two 
little brigantines, commenced the destruction of their fort, 
taking its useful contents on board their vessels. They were 
just on the eve of putting to sea, when, on the 3d of August, 
four sails were descried coming to anchor off the river. They 
were soon ascertained to be English vessels, commanded by 
Master John Hawkins, then returning from his second great 
expedition to the Spanish West Indies. 

This voyage of Hawkins, as the first English expedition 
to these parts of the American east coast which has come 
to our knowledge, and as the immediate precursor of other 
English undertakings to the same regions, forms an im- 
portant link in the chain of maritime explorations by which 
this coast has been made known to the world ; and must be 
exhibited somewhat more circumstantially. I will therefore 
leave Laudonniere and his colony for a while, and proceed to 
tell the story of Hawkins. 

5. Voyage op Captain John Hawkins along the Coast 
OF North America, from Florida to Newfound- 
land, IN 1565. 

Captain John Hawkins * may, with strict justice, be called 
the English discoverer of the West Indies. Though Eng- 
lishmen had been there before him, he was the first to con- 

* After having finished his most famous voyages, Hawkins was made a 
knight, and is usually called Sir John Hawkins. 



VOYAGE OF HAWKINS, 15G5. 441 

duct an Enolish fleet tlirovio;]i the waters of the West In- 
dia Ishinds ; and this he did repeatedly, and every time on a 
larger scale. Having been attended in all his expeditions by 
several ships requiring large crews, he brought those regions 
to the knowledge of many English mariners, and may be 
said to have founded a school of English West India naviga- 
tion. He gave an impulse to many subsequent English voy- 
ages to America, and particularly to the adventures directed 
to that part of the east coast afterwards named Virginia. 

This branch of English navigation originated in much the 
same way, as the western adventures of the Spaniards. In 
both cases the first step was, to gain knowledge of the isl- 
ands lying west of Africa. " Master John Hawkins," like 
Columbus, "having made divers voyages to the isles of Cana- 
ries, and there having grown in favor and love with the peo- 
ple, informed himself amongst them by diligent inquisition of 
the state of the West India." 

In his first important enterprise, in the year 1562, he went 
beyond the Canaries, traversed the ocean, and skirted along 
the north-eastern coast of the small and large Antilles, and 
returned to Europe "by way of the sea of the Azores." 
His track closely resembled that of Columbus on his first 
voyage. 

On his second voyage, in 1564-65, he extended his field of 
operations and entered, as did Columbus, the interior waters 
of Central America, the Caribbean Sea, and also touched the 
south-eastei'n end of the Gulf of Mexico. 

On his third voyage, in 1567-68, he followed the track of 
the Spanish expeditions under Cortes, and swept nearly the 
whole Gulf of Mexico, and opened to his countrymen a 
knowledge of this gulf. 

His first and third voyages have but little interest for us. 
The first came no nearer to New England than the Lucayan 



442 VOYAGE OF HAWKINS, 1565. 

Islands. The tliircl was nearly a repetition of the second ; 
and that part of it which was confined to the Gulf of Mexico 
belongs to the special history of that locality. 

But the second voyage * is of greater importance for our 
object ; and that part of it which is intimately connected with, 
and describes, the expedition of Laudonniere, finds an appro- 
priate place immediately after our account of that expedition. 

Hawkins' second voyage, like the first, was principally a 
commercial enterprise, and one of the worst kind ; for his 
"merchandise" was slaves, taken "by his sword" on the 
coasts of Africa, and carried for sale from one West Indian 
market to another. It became a voyage of discovery only 
incidentally, because he penetrated with his cargo to regions, 
which neither he nor his countrymen had ever seen before. 

He was provided with four well-furnished ships, equipped 
for the most part by a company of " adventurers " in London, 
"his worshipful friends, who liked so well his intention, that 
they became liberal contributors in the action." His ships 
were "the Jesus of Lubec," of seven hundred tons, the " Sol- 
omon," the "Tiger," and the "Swallow;" the last three of 
small burden. 

How his crew was composed, we do not exactly know. 
We are informed, however, of the interesting fact, that he 
had on board a number of French pilots and seamen. f 

*Tlie priucipn,! and most authentic source of information on this voyage 
is found in the third volume of Hakluyt's great work. The report there 
printed was written by a man who calls himself "John Siiarke the 
younger," who accompanied Hawkins; but we do not know in what capac- 
ity. He was an eye-witness of what he relates. His account is written in 
a very rough and uniDolished manner, if compared with the full, conscien- 
tious, and spirited accounts of Ribault and Laudonniere. Yet it is a valu- 
able document, because it sui^plies the first knowledge which the English 
acquired of Florida. I quote the account after the edition of Hakluyt, 
London, 1810. 

t Sparke, in Hakluyt, 1. c. p. 597. 



VOYAGE OF HAWKINS, 1565. 443 

Among them was one " Martin Atinas of Dieppe," who had 
been to our east coast witli Ribault in 1562, and may have 
been one of the French colonists of Florida, presented to 
the Queen of England,* In the course of his voyage, Haw- 
kins had occasion to take another French sailor on board, 
likewise of Dieppe, who had come from the coasts of Brazil, 
and Avliom he found on the coast of Africa. f 

It may be observed, that if Hawkins could not get Spanish 
and Portuguese sailors and pilots, the best for him after these, 
no doubt, were the French. Hawkins met French ships and 
navigators at nearly every station of his long voyage, namely, 
on the coast of Africa, on the track to Brazil, among the 
smaller Antilles,:]: in Florida, and on the Banks of Newfound- 
land. § 

Hawkins sailed from Plymouth on the 18tli of October, 
1564. His disgraceful and cruel proceedings on the coast of 
Africa, Avhere he took " the inhabitants with burning and 
spoiling their towns," and his not less barbarous proceedings 
in the Spanish American waters, where, with "faulcons and 
arquebuses in hand," he forced the defenceless Spanish col- 
onists to take his negroes at prices fixed by him, — all this we 
will pass over hastilv, and follow him somewhat more closely, 
when, after having finished his nefarious traffic, he approached 
our shores, and displayed the more attractive features of his 
not ung-enerous nature. 

The fact that his voyage through the Caribbean Sea and 
along the south side of the large Antilles was, for the Eng- 
lish, a real voyage of discovery, may be observed at nearly 
every step of his progress. 

* Laudonnifere, Histoire Notable, 1. c. fols. 94. 2, and 95. 1. 
t Sparke, in Hakluyt, 1. c. p. 597. 
t Hakluyt, 1. c. p. 605. 
§ Hakluyt, 1. c. p. 618. 



444 VOYAGE OF HAWKINS, 15G5. 

Intending to go to S. Domingo, he found an island " which 
looked very much like Jamaica." In sailing along its coasts, 
he discussed with his officers the question, whether it might 
be Jamaica or S. Domino-o. Hawkins himself thought the 
latter ; but after searching to the south-west for Jamaica and 
not finding it, he perceived his error in mistaking it for S. 
Domingo. 

After doubling Cape S. Antonio, he was driven by easterly 
winds into the Gulf of Mexico as high as 27° N., thence fall- 
ing back toward the south, and coming round the Tortugas 
into the Strait of Florida, he intended to make Havana. 
But after cruising about in the strait for some time without 
finding it, he perceived that he had overshot it by twenty 
leagues. Not willing to return ao;ainst the Gulf-stream, and 
afraid of the Bahama Banks, he directed his course north- 
ward, and fell in "with the islands upon the Cape of Flor- 
ida." In doubling this cape, he suffered as much perplexity 
and danger " from currents and counter-currents unknown to 
him," as Ponce de Leon had done when he made his first ap- 
pearance in these paters in 1513.* 

This was very natural for an English captain at that time ; 
and I repeat, tlierefore, that Hawkins' expedition was an 
English voyage of discovery. In his wanderings his supply of 
water was exhausted ; and entering the Gulf-stream between 
Florida and the Bahama Banks, he was thereby reduced to 
great extremity. In the hope of obtaining a fresh supply, 
he approached and sailed along the east coast of Florida. 

" All the four ships kept together on their way along the 
coast of Florida; and from 26° to 30° 30' N., they ranged 
along the coast, anchoring every night, because they would 
not overshoot any place of fresh-water ; and in the daytime 
Captain Hawkins, in the ship's pinnace, sailed along the 

* See Hakluyt, 1. c. pp. 609-612. 



VOYAGE OF HAWKINS, 15(55. 445 

shore, went into every creeke, speaking Avith clivers of the 
FJoridians.* He found it to be all low land and very scant 
of fresh-water, but marvellously sweet, with both marish and 
meadow ground, and goodly woods among. He found sorell 
to grow as abundantly as grass, a great store of maize and 
mill, and grapes of great bigness. Also doer in plenty, which 
came upon the sands before him." 

At last, toward the end of July, he arrived off' the River 
May, which was pointed out to him by his French j)ilot, Mar- 
tin Atinas. Using this Frenchman as interpreter, he entered 
the river in his boats, and had an interview with Laudon- 
niere, who, in his distress, was just then prepared to abandon 
the country. Hawkins obtained here an abundant supply of 
fresh-water, and at the same time made to Laudonniere sev- 
eral generous propositions for his relief. It was finally agreed, 
that Laudonniere should take one of Hawkins' ships at a 
moderate price ; and this, with one of his own, was thought 
sufficient to transport his colonists to France ; and besides 
this assistance, the colony was also supplied with such cloth- 
ing and provisions as they most needed ; and may be said to 
have been fitted out anew by the generosity of the English 
captain. 

In exchange for this bounty, the English obtained such 
information regarding this unknown country, as had been 
gathered by the French, and was more valuable to them, 
than all the supplies they had furnished the colonists. This 
information, carried home by Hawkins and the men of his 
company, was soon spread through England. It was subse- 
quently committed to writing by " John Sparke, the young- 
er," and published by Hakluyt in his Collection of Voyages, 
and was, no doubt, a means of increasing the interest of the 

*See Hakluyt,!. c. p. 612. 



446 VOYAGE OF HAWKINS, 1565. 

English people in the discovery and colonization of North 
America. 

The description of Florida and our east coast, giv^n by 
Sparke, is very much like that given by Laudonniere and 
Ribault, and is the first description relating to this region 
ever written by an Englishman.* It specifies, as is usual in 
these early accounts of distant voyages, many objects which 
never had any existence in Florida ; for instance, among its 
vegetable productions, "storax," "gumme," " myrrhe," and 
"frankincense;" among its minerals, "gold and silver;" 
and among its animals, " the tigers, lions, and unicorns." 
About the latter, Sparke is not quite certain. He reasons 
about them thus : " nature has put between certain pairs of 
animals a great degree of enmity, and these enemies are 
always found together in the same country. So that where 
the sheep are, there the wolves are not missing. The rhi- 
noceros and elephant live in the same regions, so also the 
coney and the polecat. x\nd so if there are lions in Florida, 
the unicorn will probably be found there also ; for he is the 
mortal enemy of the lion." f " It is, therefore," Sparke con- 
cludes, " to be presupposed, that there are still more com- 
modities in this country, wdiich, for want of time and people 
are not yet come to light ; but I trust God will reveal the 
same before it be long, to the great profit of them that shall 
take it in hand;" J — a good suggestion of this honest sailor 
to his countrymen, which they were not slow in acting upon. 

After having taken leave of his French friends at the River 
May, Hawkins appears to have sailed nearly on the great 
circle toward the north-east, at no great distance from our 

* See Hakluyt, 1. o. pp. 613-617. 

t Hakluyt, 1. c. p. 616. The reader may compare with thia the unicorn 
depicted on the coast of Maine in map No. 18. 
t Hakluyt, 1. c. p. 616. 



EXPEDITION OF RIBAULT, 15G5. 447 

east coast. For "on St. Bartholomew's eve," the 23d of 
August, he arrived on the Banks of Newfoundland, where he 
met again French ships, and refreshed his crcAv with cod-fish. 
This is the first time that an English navigator is known to 
have sailed on this track from the West Indies, in a north- 
easterly course, the whole length of our coast. Cabot had 
sailed along the same coast, but in a south-western direction. 

On the 20th of September, Hawkins arrived in England, 
bringing home for his adventurers and ship-owners gold, 
silver, pearls, sugar, hides, and other Spanish-American pro- 
ducts ; and for the nation at large, a good store of experience 
and information about the new American regions, especially 
about our east coast. 

Having said thus much by way of episode, on this impor- 
tant voyage of Hawkins, I return to the history of the French 
in Florida. 



6. Third ExPEDiTioisr of the French to Florida under 

COMMAND OF JeAN RiBAULT, IN 1565. 

The news of Laudonni^re's arrival and proceedings in the 
new world was carried to France by the vessel " L'Isabcau," 
despatched by him from Florida soon after his arrival, July 
28th, 1564, and afterwards by a vessel under Captain Bour- 
det, which touched at the River May early in November, 
1564. It is probable that one of these French vessels, like 
those of Hawkins, may have returned along our east coast by 
way of the Newfoundland Banks. 

By the first vessel, Laudonniere not only sent a report of 
his proceedings to Admiral Coligny, but wrote letters to other 
influential persons in France,* which, unfortunately, have 
not been preserved. He doubtless also wrote by Bourdet, 

* See these letters, Laudonniere, " L'histoire notable," fol. 102. 2. 



448 EXPEDITION OF RIBAULT, 1565. 

who at all events carried to France information of his ad- 
ventures. It appears that very unfavorable news had been 
spread about Laudonnicre. It was said that he was hard 
and cruel to his men, and that he acted the part of a des- 
pot in French Florida.* 

These unfavorable reports could not have been carried 
out in the Isabeau, because when she sailed, the affairs of 
Laudonnicre were still flourishing, and he and his men were 
full of hope. But when Bourdet Avas in Florida, things had 
changed, and some of Laudonniere's malcontent and seditious 
soldiers were sent home by him. 

When Laudonnicre left France, it was fully understood, 
that succor and further supplies were to be sent to him in the 
following spring. But for these he waited in vain until 
August of 1565. It appears, however, that in the winter of 
1564-65, preparations for the promised relief had been made, 
but that the soldiers enlisted for the purpose were seditious, 
and refused to fulfill their engagements.! But at length a 
new expedition was prepared, consisting of not less than seven 
ships ; the largest of which was called " La Trinite," another 
" Le Levrier," and a third " La Perle," which were manned 
by several hundred soldiers, not only to maintain a military 
fort or station, but to found a complete colony. The artists 
and tradesmen destined for the work were accompanied by 
their families, and several women were included in the com- 
pany. A great number of cattle were also taken on board, 
whilst in the former expedition, they had only a few sheep and 
fowls. 

The command of this fleet was given to Jean Ribault, who 
had conducted the former expedition to Florida. He was also 

* Laudomik're, 1. c. fol. 102. 2. 

t See Challeux, " Histoire memorable in Ternaux-Compans; Pieces sur 
la Florida, p. 253. 



EXPEDITION OF ElBAULT, loGo. 449 

appointed the king's lieutenant of tlie province, and tlic suc- 
cessor of Laudonni^re, avUo was thereby superseded. 

Ribault, after many delays, sailed from Dieppe on the 22d 
of May ; but encountering " the furious -winds and barbarous 
seas" so common on the west coast of France, he was beaten 
back to Havre ; which ho left the second time on the 26th 
of May, and was again beaten back to the north-east, and 
took refuge in Portsmouth, England, where he rode at an- 
chor for more than a fortnijiht. These disasters were com- 
mon on the coast of France, and had happened to nearly 
every French exploring expedition ; namely, to that of Ver- 
razano, ijiat of Laudonniere, and the first and second of 
Ribault. 

At last, on the 14th of June, Ribault finally left the shores 
of England, " setting now his sail to make a direct chase 
over to Florida with a north-eastern wind."* 

He took again the "new oceanic route," which he claimed 
to have discovered, and which he had called " the Fi'ench 
track;" that is to say, he passed, without touching any 
oceanic island, north of the Azores, and then south of the 
Bermudas. But in the latter part of his route, he bent a 
little further to the south than formerly ; so that the great 
northernmost island of the Lucayo's, which we now call 
" Abaco," and to which some of Ribault's officers proposed 
to ffive the name " Catherine la Reine," after the mother of 
Charles IX,f was the first American land of which he came 
in sight. 

Doubling these islands, he made his land-fall on the shores 
of Florida south of " Cape Francois," probably not far north 
of Cape Canaveral ; and, on the 2Tth of August, he came to 
anchor off the mouth of the river of May. 

* Challeux, ia Ternaux-Compans, pi"*. 254, 255. 
t Challeux, 1. c. p. 256. 
29 



450 EXPEDITION OF RIBAULT, 15G5. 

Goino; on shore, he met the unfortunate Laudonniere and 
his companions, who, having obtained the assistance of Master 
Hawkins, were then just ready to embark for Europe. Lau- 
donniere, hearing that he had been calumniated in France, 
and was to be superseded in his office by another, was more 
anxious than before to return home. Ribault tried to per- 
suade him to stay in the colony, and had many private con- 
versations Avith him on the subject. Meanwhile the newly 
arrived men of Ribault's company began to make inquiries 
amono;st the old settlers about the advantages and commodities 
of the country. The women and children, and the sick, were 
transported from the ships, and accommodated as, well as 
could be done in the old half-destroyed fort of "Caroline," 
the rebuilding of which was commenced. 

But this state of things had not continued long, when sud- 
denly, and only a few days after Ribault's arrival, namely, on 
the third of September, an armament of five Spaiiish men- 
of-war appeared at the mouth of May River, and fell upon the 
unsuspecting colony like a thunder-bolt ; and in a short time 
brought to a cruel end all their plans for conquest and coloniza- 
tion, and involved the whole company in utter destruction. 

The Spanish government had been apprised long before 
of the French undertakings, and had sent out a great fleet 
under the command of Don Pedro Menendez, to drive them 
from Florida, and take possession of this country, Avhich by 
right of first discovery, as well as for other reasons, was 
claimed to be an undoubted part of the Spanish dominions. 

Admiral Coligny, a little before Ribault left France, had 
become acquainted with the destination of this Spanish arm- 
ament, and had communicated what he knew about it to Ri- 
bault, giving him at the same time orders " not to suffer the 
Spaniards to encroach upon him."* 

* Laudonniere, 1. c. fol. 102. 2. 



EXPEDITION OF RIBAULT, 1505. 451 

But Ribault did not expect the Spaniards to follow liim so 
quickly. He himself had been delayed partly by misfor- 
tunes, and ^vitllout his own fault. Had it been possible for 
him to reach Laudonniere in the spring, when his arrival was 
expected, perhaps the colony might have been saved. The 
surrounding Indian tribes were still friendly. At that time 
LaudonniSre's men formed a body of about one hundred and 
fifty men, well conditioned and in good spirits ; and had they 
been increased by the arrival of the strong reinforcement un- 
der Ribault, might have made a successful resistance against 
the Spaniards, and have given a different direction to the 
whole history of this part of oijr east coast. 

Biit Ribanlt's delays had reduced Landonniere's colonists 
to a troop of discouraged, sick, and half-starved men. By 
the foraging and plundering excursions, to which necessity 
had driven them, the Indian tribes had become hostile, were 
inclined to look upon the Spaniards as liberators, whom they 
would gladly assist in every way in their power. Ribault 
himself had not had time to restore the dilapidated fort, or 
put his fresh men in a position for defence. Part of them 
were dispersed on the shore ; the remainder were still on 
shipboard. 

The Spanish fleet, without giving any warning, at once 
made show of attack ; and the French, finding resistance im- 
possible, cut their cables, set sail, and made for the open sea. 
The Spaniards pursued them for some time, but finding the 
French sailors better than their own, and at the same time 
thinking it not prudent to make an immediate attack upon 
the land forces, of whose number and condition they knew 
nothing, sailed southward, and landed near the river of Dol- 
phins, the harbor of St. Augustine, and established there a 
camp and fortification. 

Three of the French vessels, having watched the move- 



452 EXPEDITION OF EIBAULT, 1565. 

nients of the enemy, returned to tlieir station off the River 
May, to put themselves in communication with the comman- 
der-in-chief. The question was, what measures should now 
be taken. The old commander Laudonniere was of opinion, 
that the land and sea forces, should keep together in the River 
May, and fortify themselves there in a strong position. But 
Ribault, remembering Admiral Coligny's admonition, " that 
he should in no way suffer the Spaniards to encroach upon 
him," was unhappily disposed to adopt offensive operations ; 
thinking, probably, that he might surprise the SpL\niards be- 
fore they had time to erect fortifications, offer them battle, 
and destroy them, either on the open sea or in their harbor. 

He therefore embarked most of his forces, assumed the 
command of the fleet, and left Laudonniere in the fort, with 
the women, children, and invalids, and a few soldiers ; alto- 
gether a body of about two hundred persons, badly fur- 
nished with means of defence. This unfortunate arrangement 
proved fatal to the colony.* 

On the 10th of September, Ribault set sail in quest of the 
Spaniards. But the next day, at the moment when with 
favoring winds he had overtaken them, a furious tempest 
burst upon him with thunder, lightning, and rain, and lasted 
twelve days in succession. Meanwhile the Spaniards, who 
had taken refuge in the harbor of St. Augustine, and moored 
their vessels there, improved the opportunity offered by this 
delay, to fortify themselves in a new encampment. And 
having learned by the Indians that the French had divided 
their forces, and that by this means tlieir fort was rendered 
almost defenceless, while their fleet had been disabled by the 
tempest, they set out at once for the north with a superior 
force, under the command of their general, Don Pedro Me- 
nendez himself, conducted by Indian guides and by a treach- 

* Laudonniere, 1. c. fol. lOG. 1 seq. 



EXPEDITION OF EIBAULT, 15G5. 453 

orous Frenchman, and under cover of the storm, whicli had 
not yet abated. 

The French fort, Avhere the garrison dreamed of no dan- 
ger to themselves, and were waiting to hear what events had 
happened at sea, was taken by surprise, and captured on the 
night of the 20th of September witliout much resistance. 
The greater part of the nearly defenceless occupants were 
slaughtered on the spot, in a most cruel and barbarous man- 
ner. But few escaped the fury of the Spanish soldiers ; 
among whom were Laudonniere, Le Moyne, and Challeux, 
all three of whom became historians of these events. They 
fled to the sea-coast, and Avere there picked up by two French 
vessels, " Le Levrier" and "La Perle," which Ribault liad 
left anchored in the River May under the command of his 
brother, Jacques Ribault. These ships cruised for a few days 
along the shore, to see if other fugitives might have escaped ; 
and then supposing that all was lost, they left the coast on 
the 25th of September, and sailed for France.* 

Ribault and his companions meanwhile were not less com- 
pletely discomfited. They kept the sea for five days. But oil 
the 15th of September, the storm raged Avith redoubled vio- 
lence, and drove the fleet ashore. The ships were wrecked 
with tjie loss of everything, and the soldiers and sailors 
reached land in* a helpless condition. The place of this 
memorable shipwreck appears to have been not far from 
" Matanzas inlet" (the inlet of slaughter). 

This shipwrecked company undertook to travel by land on 
the shore toward their fort on the May River, unaware of its 
sad fate. There they were soon discovered by the Spaniards, 
to whom they surrendered, and by whpm they were, with 
few exceptions, butchered in the most barbarous manner. 
Ribault himself, M. de Ottigny, the principal explorer of St. 

* Challeux, 1. c. p. 289. Laudonniere, 1. c. fol. 112. 



454 EXPEDITION OF RIBAULT, 15G5. 

John's River, and many distinguished officers and gentlemen 
connected with the colony, fell easy victims to the daggers 
and swords of the Spaniards. A few Catholics, and a few 
engineers, pilots, and carpenters who, it was thought, might 
be made useful, were saved and kept as slaves by Don Pedro 
Menendez, the stern and hard-hearted servant of Philip 
the Second. 

It is related by the French authors, that the bodies of some 
of the victims of this slaughter were hanged on trees, and 
left exposed, under this inscription : " Tlius they have been 
treated, not as Frenchmen, but as heretics and enemies of 
God." 

Of all the Frenchmen who had come out to Florida Avith 
Laudonniere in 15G4, and with Ribault in 1565, eight or nine 
hundred in number, very few ever saw their country again. 
None had this good fortune except those who were rescued 
by the two vessels above mentioned, " Le Levrier " and " La 
Perle." These two vessels, with the fugitives, left tlie coast 
of Florida on the 25th of September, but experienced on 
their homeward voyage many adventures and mishaps. They 
were soon separated ; one of them, probably Le Levrier, 
arrived in a pitiful condition on the coast of France, near 
Rochelle ; * the other, probably La Perle, having on board 
Jacques Ribault, the brother of Jean, Laudoflniere, Le Moyne, 
and other distinguished members of the colony, was carried by 
currents and winds into the St. George's Channel, and lauded 
its passengers at Swansea in Wales, in November, 1565. 
From this place, Laudonniere, and probably Le Moyne the 
artist, and perhaps some others, proceeded to Bristol and 
London, where they remained some time. Thus England 
received again tlie first news from Florida, and of the destruc- 
tion of this Protestant colony of their French neighbors. 

* Challeux, 1. c. p. 29. 



EXPEDITION OF MENENDEZ, 1565-1567. 455 

Thus, too, was Le Moyne brought into those rehitions with 
several parties in England, which led to his subsequent resi- 
dence in Blackfriars in London, under the patronage of Sir 
Walter Raleigh, and to his preparing and publishing tliere, 
rather than in France, the accounts and portraitures, "lively 
drawn in colors," of those things of which he had been an 
eye-witness in Florida.* 

A few of these French colonists escaped at a later period 
from Spanish slavery ; amongst them a sailor, who, after hav- 
ing experienced some wonderful vicissitudes of fortune in 
Florida, brought home additional reports of the proceedings 
of the Spaniards there, which have been used by subsequent 
historians.! 



7. Expeditions of T>on Pedro Menexdez de Aviles ox 
THE Coast of FlofvIda, ix 1565-1567. 

In relating the last French expedition to Florida, I spoke 
of the military achievement of Don Pedro ISIenendez de 
Aviles, the Spanish general, which resulted, in the destruction 
of their colony. This Spanish expedition gave rise to several 
new explorations along the southern section of our east coast, 
introduced there several new names, and determined the con- 
dition of Florida for a long time, and therefore demands a 
particular discussion. As it was occasioned by the French 
voyages, and was intimately connected with them, it natu- 
rally finds a place immediately after the second and last 
voyage of Ribault. 

Don Pedro Menendez was a seaman and soldier trained 
in the school of Philip II. He had been successfully em- 

* See on these latter events, Laudonuiere, 1. c. fol. 113 seq. [Also, Hak- 
luyt, vol. 3, p. 301, ed. 1600— Ed.] 

t See Charlevoix, Histoire de la Nouvelle France, vol. 1, p. 85. 



456 EXPEDITION OF MENENDEZ, 1565-1S67. 

ployed by his monarch in Avhat the Spaniards called "chasing 
pirates," and in capturing and destroying such French and 
Dutch navigators as presumed to intrude upon waters claimed 
by Spain. He had acquired great wealth during his service 
in Spanish America, " which was no school of benevolence." * 
Menendez conceived the first idea of an enterprise to Florida 
in consequence of the loss by shipwreck on the coasts of that 
country, or of the Bermudas, of his son, who was said to be 
still living among the natives, and for whom the father w^as 
in search. For this purpose he fitted out a small armament, 
which was enlarged by the king, who gave him a commis- 
sion to survey the coasts of Florida, and to make a chart of 
them, for the benefit of Spanish navigation.! 

As we are seldom favored with the exact contents of the 
royal instructions given to the old navigators, we will repeat 
here that -part of Philip's commission to Menendez, which 
relates to the exploration and occupation of our coast. Me- 
nendez was directed " within three years, to take possession 
of the country of ' Florida ' (North America), and to have 
explored and reconnoitered all its coasts, to have surveyed all 
its harbors, bays, inlets, currents, and rocks, making a de- 
scription of all of them, and putting them down as accurately 
as possible, according to their altitudes, roads, and bearings, 
tltat the u'hole secret of the coast might he understood and 
knoivny He was, at the same time, directed to attempt a 
settlement, in order to convert the heathen inhabitants of the 
country to the Catholic religion. For these purposes he was 
to carry to Florida five hundred handicraftsmen and labor- 
ers, and twelve missionaries ; and besides these, five hundred 
black slaves, one hundred horses, two hundred calves, four 
hundred hogs, four hundred sheep, goats, and other cattle, 

* Bancroft. 

t See Barcia, 1. c. i^p. 56-65. 



EXPEDITION OF MENENDEZ, 15C5-15G7. 457 

and all things necessary for the cuhivation of the soil, the 
i)lantin£>' of srto-ar-cane, and the erectino; of sug;ar-mills.* 

This was the interesting and most peaceable mission over 
which Menendez was placed in 15G5, with the title of " Per- 
petual Adelantado of Florida." But when he was nearly- 
ready for sailing, news came to Spain, that French Hugue- 
nots had, three years before, settled and fortified themselves in 
Florida,! ^^^^ that another large armament was preparing in 
France for their relief. This information gave to the whole 
undertaking of Menendez another turn. A military arma- 
ment was given to it, mider a commission to attack the 
French forces, to destroy their colony, and to effect the con- 
quest of Florida. It was, in fact, with respect to its most 
prominent object, a kind of crusade. This change made the 
enterprise popular in Spain ; and Menendez, who Avas to pay 
the greater part of the expenses, received assistance from 
every quarter. He was thus enabled to spend upon his ex- 
tensive preparations, within a year, not less than one million 
of ducats.:]: Volunteers, who furnished their own equipments, 
flocked in from all sides ; and the number of men who joined 
his banner swelled to not less than two thousand six hundred 
and forty-six persons. They were embarked on board of 
thirty-four vessels, among which were four first class ships. § 

* See Barcia, 1. c. p. C6. 

t So Barcia, 1. c. p. 6G; though it appears nearly incredible, that the 
Spanish authorities should not have known of these expeditions of Eibault 
and Laudonniere. The Spanish colonists in the West Indies had long been 
acquainted with them, as they had in 1564 suffered from French pirates 
swarming from the French colony at May Elver, and had captured some 
of them. 

I "Though this seems to be incredibly large," says Barcia (1. c. p. 6!)), 
"still it is fully warranted by authentic and original documents." [See, 
however, a letter from Menendez in Parkman, "Pioneers of France," 
note 2, p. 93.— Ed.J 

§ Barcia, 1. c. pp. 68, 69. 



458 EXPEDITION OP MENENDEZ, 1565-1567. 

Never before did so great an armament go out from Europe 
to the eastern coast of North America. 

These vessels set out at different dates and from different 
ports. Menendez, burning with zeal for the destruction of 
the heretics, could not wait for the assemblage of all his 
vessels in one port ; but having collected in the harbor 
of Cadiz about nineteen vessels, and about fifteen hundred 
men, leaving some of the smaller ones to follow on his course, 
he sailed from thence on the 29th of June, 1565 ; about 
five weeks after the departure of Ribault from Dieppe. He 
took the usual Spanish route, by the Canaries and the An- 
tilles. Having passed the former group, the fleet was separ- 
ated in a storm, and Menendez arrived at the Antilles early 
in August, with only five men-of-war.* 

But anxious to surprise the French before they had forti- 
fied themselves in Florida, Menendez decided not to await the 
arrival of the rest of his fleet and forces, but to sail at once 
for his destined object ; and fearing lest the French fleet, con- 
sisting, as he knew, of seven ships and seven hundred men, 
might be posted in the Gulf of Florida somewhere in the 
neighborhood of Havana, he resolved to leave the usual 
Spanish route to Florida, around Cape St. Antonio and Ha- 
vana, and to sail on a " new and shorter route, through the 
Lucayan Islands and the Bank of Bahama." In this he suc- 
ceeded, and entered " by the new route," the direction of 
which is not accurately known by us, on the 25th of August, 
into the Strait of Bahama ;f and on the 28th, he descried the 
coast of Florida, and came to anchor in the harbor, called by 
him "San Augustino;" from which point he set out on his 
purpose of attacking the French forces, and breaking up and 
destroying their settlement. 

* Barcia, 1. c. p. 69. 

t See Meuendez, 1. c. p. 183 seq. 



•^ EXPEDITION OF MENENDEZ, 1505-1^07. 459 

After having clone this in the manner before described, he 
gave his attention, in the period from 15G5 to 1573, to the 
execution of tlie remaining objects of his commission ; namely, 
exploring and surveying the coasts of Florida, and planting 
and fortifying them against any reneAved attacks of French 
and English " corsarios." In this work, full of dangers, 
cares, and difficulties, he proved himself a most active and 
energetic man, and made himself famous in the liistory of the 
exploration and colonization of the eastern coast of the future 
United States. 

. In the first place, he erected several forts along the coast of 
southern Florida ; one at " San Augustino," another at the 
place of the French fort, which he called " San INIateo," 
and another near our present " Indian River Inlet," called 
by liim " Sta. Lucia," and in the following year, 15G6, still 
another, " San Felipe," on that part of the coast where 
Ayllon, in 152G, had made his settlement, not far from St. 
Helena Sound, on the coast of South Carolina. 

He sent out also in 156G, pioneer exploring and planting 
expeditions to the north, toward the "Bay of St. Mary" 
(Chesapeake), discovered by Ayllon in 152G. This expedi- 
tion, however, proved a failure ; because the planters and 
soldiers assigned to it, being unwilling to settle in so distant a 
place, and Avearying of the voyage thither, escaped to Spain, 
reporting that they were driven from tlie coast by storms.* 
Menendez found full employment in keeping together his mu- 
tinous soldiers, who did not like the toilsome life of planters 
in a new and uninlial)ited country, and Avere always tempted 
to escape to Mexico or Peru, their promised land. 

He also sent into the interior several exploring expeditions 
along the St, John's, and other rivers, and toward the Appala- 
chian Mountains, which wx're thought to be rich in silver 

* See Barcia, 1. c. pp. 119 and 123. 



460 EXPEDITION OF MENENDEZ, 1565-15G7. 

mines. One of these expeditions, under Jean Pardo, made 
in 1567, is supposed to have penetrated further north even 
than De Soto. Menendez, like Cortez, held to the opinion, 
that there existed, somewhere in the central parts of "Flor- 
ida " (North America),* a passage from the Atlantic to the 
Pacific. His captains had heard the northern Indians speak 
of a "Rio Salado " (salt river), which Menendez considered 
as the salt-water of the Western Sea. And " though he 
knew the Indians to be great liars, still from this he became 
still more convinced, that he might find here a passage to the 
oriental regions" (passo a Orienti).f One Spanish author 
says, " that Menendez knew more about the secret of the 
north-west passage than anybody of his time." With others, 
he thought that the far-reaching St. Mary's Bay (Chesa- 
peake) might be connected with a western sea, or with the 
waters of the great St. Lawrence system. 

All these schemes, undertakings, and explorations carried 
him several times back to Cuba and the West India Islands ; 
where, principally at Havana, he found his supplies and har- 
bors of refuge ; and where, too, he could procure new ships 
and recruits. In fallino; back to these strong-holds he was ob- 
liged to sail against the Gulf-stream, which he did repeatedly 
with great skill and good fortune. The Spanish authors con- 
sider this sail of IMenendez from Florida up the Gulf-stream 
to Havana, as a new achievement, a great feat, and an impor- 
tant event in the maritime history of North America. Until 
then, they affirmed that Spanish vessels had only sailed down 
the Gulf-stream ; that no Spanish vessel had entered Havana 
from the east, sailing against it, though many navigators had 

* [For the extent of Florida, see Parkniaii, " Pioneers of France," p. 14, 
and his note 2, for his authorities ; and also Asher's Introduction to 
"Henry Hudson," pp. 84-80— Ed.] 

t Barcia, 1. c. p. 111). 



EXPEDITION OF MENENDEZ, loGo-1567. 461 

made the attempt ; and that Menendez -vvas the first wlio suc- 
cessfully accomplished it, and thus brought Florida, in its 
"wide sense, into a more intimate relation with the West India 

Isl? 



iianus 



, * 



Menendez had as many difficulties in securing his conquest, 
as he had had in gaining it. They arose from the nature of 
the country, from the mutinous spirit of his men, and also 
from the unfavorable disposition of the royal governor of 
Cuba ; who considered Florida as a part of his dominion, and 
sometimes refused assistance to Menendez, to whom Florida 
had been given as an independent government. 

But Menendez rose superior to all these difficulties, and 
Philip 11. rewarded this active servant, whom we might well 
style the Alva of North America, with abundant honors and 
pecuniary rewards. He presented him with 200,000 ducats ; 
and, what Avas still more honorable, made him governor of 
Cuba ; so that henceforth Menendez cou'ld reside as a pow- 
erful viceroy in the best and most convenient seat for man- 
aging the affairs of that widely extended empire, which it was 
thought he had created for Spain. 

In the summer of 15G7 he returned to Spain to make report 
of his grand achievements, and to receive from the king the 
promised rewards. Returning from thence to America in the 
beginning of 1568, he found the affairs of "his empire" once 
more in disorder. In some of his forts there had been re- 
volts, the Indians on the coast Avei'e in a bad humor toward 
the Spanish intruders ; and the French, in his absence, had 
made another expedition to Florida, and had destroyed some 
of his forts. I will here leave Spanish affairs for a while, to 
say a few words of this fourth and last expedition of the 
French. 

* See Barcia, 1. c, p. 92, 



462 EXPEDITION OF GOURGUES, 1567-68. 



8. Expedition of Dominique de Gourgues from France 
TO Florida, in 1567-1568. 

The French Huguenots, after their cnth'e defeat and over- 
throw in Florida in 1565, made renewed efforts to reestab- 
lish their colony in the same region, and then to take revenge 
on the Spaniards. 

They addressed a petition to Charles IX, in the name of 
the families and kindred of those "nine hundred sons" slain 
by the Spaniards, in which they rehearsed their wrongs and 
sufferings, and earnestly appealed to the king to avenge this 
flagrant injury and insult to the French nation. The king 
listened, but made no response to his heretical subjects, who 
were detested by him and his court as much as they were by 
the Spaniards, and who Avere soon after butchered in Paris, 
in a manner more treacherous and cruel than they had been 
in Florida. Kegarding Florida as the favorite resort of his 
Protestant suljects, he could not be induced to lend his aid 
for its recovery from the Spaniards, and seemed willing to 
abandon it to their power. 

It is, however, gratifying to knoAv, that at last, a Catholic 
nobleman took the Protestant cause into his own hands. 
The Chevalier de Gourgues, a French patriot, and a man of 
high honor and justice, born in the province of Guyenne, was 
incited by a desire to repair the honor of his nation. He sold 
his property, borrowed money of his friends, who gladly con- 
tributed their aid, and was thus able to purchase and equip 
three ships, and to enlist about eighty sailors and one hundred 
and fifty soldiers, for a distant adventure. 

Having served his king from boyhood, he had acquired 
great experience and reputation, both as a naval and military 
officer. His adventurous life, and reverses of fortune, some- 
what resemble the varied phases of the life of the celebrated 



EXPEDITION OF GOURGUES, 15G7-G8. 463 

John Smith, who, at a later thnc, became prominent in the 
affiiirs of Virginia and New England. Gourgues had served, 
when quite a youth, in Italy, where he was taken prisoner by 
the Spaniards and condemned to the galleys. The vessel in 
which he Avas a slave was captured by the Turks, who car- 
ried him, in the same capacity, to Rhodes and Constantino- 
ple. From this imprisonment at the oar, he was retaken by 
the knights of Malta, by whom he was liberated. 

Delighted with a life of adventure, he sailed afterwards to 
Africa, to Brazil, and " the Southern Seas,"* in what capac- 
it}'- we do not learn ; probably he was one of the adventur- 
ous French privateersmen who then roved through the entire 
Atlantic, with whose history we are unhappily but little ac- 
quainted. 

With the reputation he enjoyed of being one of the most 
able and valiant of French navigators, it was not difficult for 
him to excite an interest, and obtain assistance, for any new 
expedition in which he was to be the leader. To attract as 
little as possible the attention of the authorities, and to obtain 
the necessary papers for his outfit, he concealed the destina- 
tion of his voyage, and professed that it was designed for the 
coasts of Africa, and for the capture of slaves. He received 
his commission from the governor of the province of Guy- 
enne, M. de Montluc, as a slave-trader to the coast of Benin 
in Africa. 

With this commission lie sailed from Bordeaux on the 2d 
of August, 1567, the time at which Menendez, having ac- 
complished his mission in Florida, had already returned to 
Spain, and presented himself at court, and thus escaped out 
of the hand of the avenger. 

Like former French expeditions for the west, the three 
ships of Gourgues were, for some weeks, tossed about in the 

* Probably the Southern Atlantic. See Charlevoix, vol. 1, p. 95. 



464 EXPEDITION OF GOURGUES, 1567-68. 

boisterous Bay of Biscay. He tried to find shelter in Ro- 
clielle and in the montli of the Charente ; but, at last, on the 
22d of August, he took leave of the coast of France.* 

On his passage to America, he took the long and devious 
route, leading far to the south, usually followed by the Haw- 
kins, the Fentons, and other English slave-traders. During 
the autumn of 1567, he went as for south as the Cape Verde 
Islands ; and from thence taking his way westward, he entered 
the Caribbean Sea ; and sailing round Cuba, arrived in sight 
of Cape Antonio in the spring of 1568. 

There he went on sliore ; and assembling around him all 
his company, he proclaimed to them, in an eloquent speech, 
the plan and object of his undertaking. The communication 
was received with the greatest applause. Thus supported by 
the enthusiasm of his men, he passed through the Bahama 
Channel, and made directly for Floiida. 

In passing the Spanish ports on that coast, he was descried, 
and being taken for a Spaniard was saluted with a discharge 
of cannon. To confirm this mistake, he answered their sa- 
lute. But when night came on, he made for land, and came 
to anchor five or six leagues north of the Spanish port " San 
Mateo," at the mouth of the river which Ribault had named 
" La Riviere Seine," and the Indians, " Tacata couron," now 
called Cumberland Sound. 

He went on shore, and found the Indians of the neighbor- 
hood assembled there in large numbers. Among the chiefs 
Avas Satouriova, or Satouriba, an old acquaintance of Ribault 
and Laudonniere. Gouro;ues hastened to announce to them 
his intention, as he had done before to his soldiers. He in- 
formed them that he was a Frenchman, and a mortal enemy 
of the Spaniards. He found that they had long been dis- 

*See the work, " La Reprinse de la Floride," published by Ternaux- 
Compans in his " Pieces sur la Florida," pp. 310, 311. Paris, 1811. 



EXPEDITION OF GOUEGUES, 1567-C8. 4G5 

gustcd witli Spanish tyranny, and were in the best possible 
disposition to lend him their assistance. A treaty of friend- 
ship was made with the chiefs present and their warriors, and 
a plan for an attack on the Spanish forts was agreed upon. 
No traitor was found among them. 

Gourgues Avas informed by the Indians that the Spaniards 
had rc])aired the old French fort on May River, and had made 
it their principal fortress ; that besides this they had built 
two smaller forts, and might have altogether a force of four 
hundred men, which was more than double his own. He 
sent out an oflficer to reconnoitre the situation, who was to 
return in three days ; within which time the Indian chiefs 
were also to come back, with their warriors prepared for bat- 
tle. IMeantime Gourgues Avas to make the proper disposition 
of his vessels. 

These plans Avere carried out and accom[)lished with great 
promptness. On the day appointed, the French and their In- 
dian allies set forth in high spirits for the execution of the 
terrible vengeance which they meditated. But neither my 
limited space, nor the maritime character of my history, will 
allow me to present the details of the admirable style in which 
one Spanish fort after another* was carried by Gourgues, 
who seemed as if inspired and assisted by the Demon of Re- 
venge. The Spaniards! were taken by surprise, and their 
movements and counter-movements were wholly unsuccessful. 
The parties they sent out were immediately cut off. Escape 
was impossible. The Indians murdered them on the spot. 
A few only were made prisoners by Gourgues, and spared 
for a more formal punishment. 

When he had complete possession of their works, he found 

* The first two small forts he took on the eve of Quasimoilo, loHS. 
t The cornmaucler of the Spaniards is not named. But probably it was 
the often mentioned Villarv^I. 

30 



466 EXPEDITION OF GOURGUES, 1567-68. 

tlie trees where, three years before, his countrymen had been 
hanged by Menendez, Thither he conducted his Spanish 
prisoners, and after charging upon them treachery and cru- 
elty toward tlie soldiers of an allied power, ordered them to 
be hung on the same trees on which the companions of Ri- 
bault and Laudonniere had been hung before ; and to make 
the retaliation perfect, placed over their heads a tablet, on 
which were burned with hot iron, the words, "I have done 
this, not as to Spaniards, but as to traitors, robbers, and mur- 
derers." * 

Having destroyed and burnt the forts, and laid waste every- 
thing about them, he left his Indian allies to take care of 
themselves in the probable event of the return of the Span- 
iards, not considering himself strong enough for their protec- 
tion ; and immediately sailed for France on the 3d of May. 
After a remarkably quick and pleasant voyage, he arrived on 
the 6th of June, on Whitsunday, at Rochelle. He crossed 
the ocean in four weeks, making in one part of his voyage 
eleven hundred leagues in seventeen days.f 

In Rochelle, the head-quarters of the Protestants in France, 
Gourgues of course enjoyed a splendid reception. Sailing 
from thence to his native town, Bordeaux, he happily es- 
caped a Spanish fleet of eighteen armed vessels, which were 
in search of him.^ He was afterwards obliged to secrete 
himself, even in his own country. The king of Spain set a 
high price upon his head. The court of France, in its defer- 
ence to Spanish influence, appeared disposed to have him 
arrested and arraigned ; though, as Charlevoix assures us, 

*Gourgues .appears to have destroyed the Spaniards to a man; for Bar- 
cia says no Sp.anish eye-witness of the events ever returned to Sp.ain, 1. c. 
pp. 133, 134. He takes his statement entirely from French sources, and bad 
no original Spanish reports whatever before him. 

t La Reprinse, 1. c. p. 363 seq. 

} Ibid. 



EXPLOEATION OF MAEQUEZ, 1573. 467 

the king of France had, personally, a secret admiration for 
him, as he had also for Coligny. Queen Elizabeth of Eng- 
land ere long made him a proposition to enter her service. 
In a subsequent year, Don Antonio of Portugal offered him 
the command of a fleet, to vindicate his claims to the throne 
of Portugal against the claims of Philip II. Gourgues was 
inclined to accept the offer, but was taken suddenly ill on his 
way to meet the Prince of Portugal, and died at Tours, in 
1582, universally regretted, and with the reputation of having 
been one of the most patriotic Frenchmen, and most valiant 
captains of his time.* 

Then soon ensued the most gloomy period in the history of 
the French Protestants. Their great leader Coligny, the 
French Raleigh, was murdered in the massacre of St. Bar- 
tholomew. From that time, France relinquished all preten- 
sions to Florida.! After the " passing storm " of Gourgues' 
expedition, the vast and undefined territory which bore that 
name, reverted to the Spanish dominion, and so remained for 
a long period. 



9. A Spanish Survey of the East Coast of Florida, 

IN 1573. 

When Menendez returned from Spain in 1568 to his gov- 
ernment of Cuba, he found his affairs in Florida in the utmost 
confusion from the raid of Gourgues. But as the principal 
seat of his government was so near, it was not difficult for 
him to revive his wasted province by rebuilding his forts and 
restoring the colony. He also sent among the Indians Jesuit 
missionaries, to convert them to the Catholic faith ; some of 
whom traveled north of Port Royal into the territories of the 

* See Charlevoix, vol. 1, pp. 105, 106. 
t Bancroft. 



468 EXPLORATION OF MARQUEZ, 1573. 

present States of Georgia and Carolina. These were the first 
Jesuits ever brought to Nortli America. They afterwards 
became prominent, taking the lead of many exploring expe- 
ditions into the interior of the continent, and contributing to 
make its condition, especially that of Canada and Maine, 
better known to the world. The above-named southern 
States, having been the theater of the first attempt to estab- 
lish a Protestant community on the North American conti- 
nent, enjoyed also the distinction of having the first Jesuit 
missionaries among them. AVherever Protestants planted 
themselves, the Jesuits followed. French Protestants had 
shown them the way to Brazil. The first entry of the Jes- 
uits into the city of Mexico did not take place before 1573 ; * 
and into California, not till several years later ; when they 
had already penetrated the wilderness of the eastern terri- 
tory, where the Jesuits had been slain among the Indians, 
and were esteemed as martyrs to their cause. 

Menendez had made, as opportunity served, partial surveys 
in Florida, in pursuance of his special instructions, prepara- 
tory to drawing a chart of the country. His military and 
naval operations, and domestic duties and troubles^ had pre- 
vented him from completing this work until the whole coast 
had been cleared of his enemies. This result having been 
at last accomplished, Menendez, in 1573, commissioned his 
nephew Don Pedro Marquez, to finish the survey. 

With four ships, and one hundred and fifty seamen and 
soldiers, he made the first and most perfect reconnoisance of 
the southern section of the east coast for the purpose of pre- 
paring a chart. He began his survey at Cape Florida, and 
followed the coast along to a point north of Chesapeake Bay. 
Barcia says, that he had no skillful cosmographer with him to 

* Barcia, 1. c. p. 146. 



EXPLORATION OF MAEQUEZ, 1573. 469 

construct a chart.* But lie gave so exact a description "by 
writing" (escriviendo), that a cliart could easily be con- 
structed from it. 

This written reconnoisance, which probably contained many 
interesting details of soundings, bearings, and sailing direc- 
tions, was delivered to Don Juan de Ovando, president of the 
council for the Indies, who put it into the hands of the cos- 
mographcr Don Juan de Yelasco. The possession of this 
original document would be invaluable to the historian of the 
Southern States ; especially for this reason, among others, 
that it would furnish materials to illustrate the history of 
physical changes on that coast. But unfortunately, the docu- 
ment was lost soon after the death of Menendez. An extract 
from it was, however, preserved, which Barcia says he thought 
it good to communicate, " that the memory of that curious 
document might not be totally lost." f 

It is no doubt the most interesting and minute description 
of the coast of Florida after that of Oviedo ; which I have 
given in a preceding section. 

I must allude to it here only in a general way, because it 
does not extend as far north as New England, and because 
its specialties belong to the history of geography in the South- 
ern States of the Union. The most northern object of the 
part of the east coast, which was surveyed and accurately 
described by the young Marquez, was St. Mary's Bay, although 
he went beyond it ; but how far, we are not informed. $ In 
a previous discussion, I have made use of this description of 
" St. Mary's Bay," to prove that it was the present Chesa- 
peake Bay. Barcia adds the remark, that when in 1680, Ar- 
nold Roggeveen published his hydrographical work, entitled 

* Barcia, 1. c. p. 147. t Ibid. 

J Barcia (p. 147) says: "Lego mas adelante del puerto y baia do Sta. 
Maria." 



470 EXPLOEATION OF MARQUEZ, 1573. 

" The burning torch of the Sea," he knew less of the coast 
than was represented by tliese Spanish surveys, and did not 
ventm-e to describe even the httle which he depicted on his 
charts.* 

It thus appears, that the Spaniards were again, at this time, 
far advanced in their progress to the north, and had begun to 
take possession of the northern coasts, which were comprised 
by them under the name of their " Province of Florida." 
That the pla,ns of Menendez reached as far as New England, 
is evident from the circumstance, that he had his eye on the 
Banks of Newfoundland, and proposed to issue orders for the 
protection of the Spanish jfishermen in these waters, including 
them also within his Province of Florida."! It was proba- 
bly his intention to take some such measures for occupation 
there, as were taken by Sir Humphrey Gilbert at a later 
period. During the interval between the destruction of Ri- 
bault's colony in 1566, and Gilbert's possession of Newfound- 
land In 1583, the Spaniards bore sway over the entire east 
coast of North America, with no foreign settlement, and 
scarcely a foreign expedition to oppose their claims. 

This survey of the east coast in 1573 was, however, the 
last important exploration of our coast conducted under the 
direction and by order of Menendez. In the following year, 
1574, he was recalled to Europe by Philip II, and soon ended 
there his career and his life. He was a great favorite with 
Philip, who considered him one of the most distinguished men 
of his time. As a token of his regard, he ordered his portrait 
to be placed in the gallery of his palace, and selected him to 
command a great fleet, which was to be fitted out that year 
against England and the Netherlands. He also appointed his 

* See Barcia, p. 150. 
t Barcia, 1. c. p. 149. 



EXPLORATION OF MARQUEZ, 1573. 471 

cousin, Flores de Valdes, his successor in the government of 
Cuba and Florida. 

A brilh'ant ovation and festival were given to Menendez on 
the 8th of Sept., 1574, the day on which he was solemnly 
invested with the command of the " Great Armada," a fleet 
of three hundred vessels, and twenty thousand men, assem- 
bled in Santander. But with a fatality similar to that expe- 
rienced a little later by his great enemy Gourgues, who died 
at the moment when he was about to take command of a great 
Portuguese fleet destined against Spain, Menendez, on the 
very day of his investiture with this authority, was sud- 
denly seized with a burning fever, of which he died on the 
17th of September, in the sixty-fifth year of his age. 

He was buried in Aviles, his native town, and his tomb 
bore the inscription, "Captain-general del Mar Oceano." 
He is represented by Spanish authors as " a great hero, and 
the greatest mariner known in his time " (Grande heroe, el 
major Hombre de Mar que se conocia), "because by making 
more than fifty exploring voyages to and in the Indies, he 
facilitated the navigation of the Atlantic Ocean, which before 
him was very dangerous and difficult." * He is undoubtedly 
entitled to a very prominent place among the navigators and 
explorers of the east coast of North America. 

The Spanish explorations on the coast from Cape Florida 
to Chesapeake Bay, have been much ignored and neglected 
in subsequent times ; while the French explorations, by means 
of the French descriptions and charts, have become univer- 
sally known. The best historians and geographers on Amer- 
ica, of the sixteenth century, repeat over and over again 
the story of Ribault and Laudonniere, while they scarcely 
mention Menendez, except to tell us that he was " the cruel 
Spanish General who massacred the poor French." As an 

* See Barcia, 1. c. p. 150. 



472 EXPLORATION OP MARQUEZ, 1573. 

explorer and navigator, he is seldom spoken of in their works. 
He is hardly noticed or recognized by Hakluyt, by De Laet, 
by Lescarbot, or by any other of the French, English, Dutch, 
or German historians of that time ; and while "■ that French 
chart of Florida, made by the painter Le Moyne," is con- 
stantly referred to by these writers, and is embodied without 
alteration in their large maps of America, no notice what- 
ever is taken of the adinirable exploration of the southern sec- 
tion of the east coast, in 1573, made by Don Pedro Marquez. 

It is certainly a singular fact, that the authors of the six- 
teenth and seventeenth centuries should have entirely ignored 
the labors and merits of men so eminent as the two Menen- 
dez, luicle and nephew. It is however not difficult to account 
for it, by the peculiar policy of the kings of Spain, who were 
accustomed to make a secret of their affairs of State, and 
were especially unwilling that the explorations and discover- 
ies of their great navigators and generals should be made 
public, lest they should excite the rivalry and interference of 
other nations. This mistaken policy shrouded in obscurity 
many valuable enterprises and their results, which would have 
added renown to the Spanish nation. Among these enter- 
prises were those of JNIenendez and Marquez. When Menen- 
dez came upon the stage of action, the old Spanish historians 
of America, the Gomaras and Oviedos, had already disap- 
peared. Herrera, who wrote soon after Menendez, did not 
bring his elaborate history quite down to the time of this ex- 
plorer, though he mentions him occasionally in his description 
of the West Indies. During the seventeenth century many 
great works on several other })arts of America were published 
in Spain, but none on the coast of Florida ; and some of the 
best Spanish documents on the discovery of this coast were 
suffered to perish. 

It is, therefore, no matter of wonder, that foreign authors 



EXPLORATION OF MARQUEZ, ir,73. 473 

were so ignorant of these matters. It was not till 1723 that 
a more complete account of that part of Spanish American 
history of which we have been speaking, was published by the 
Spanish historian Barcia, in his history of Florida, often quoted 
in tliis work. But what is still more unaccountable and culpa- 
ble, even since the publication of that history and until quite 
recent times, few writers on the discovery of our coast have 
given any proper attention to the explorations of Menendez 
and his Spanish contemporaries. 

We may perhaps find some expLination of this in the un- 
attractive manner in which Barcia set forth the information 
he had to o-ive. He is neither an able nor an elegant Avriter. 
His heavy Avork has, I believe, never been translated into 
any other language, and has not, therefore, been used as gen- 
erally, as the more elegant and interesting reports on Florida 
written by French authors. 

There was also something in the Spanish hero Menendez 
himself, which dimmed the glory of his character. His hand 
had been stained with the blood of many Protestant victims, 
which could never be forgotten by the writers of the differ- 
ent Protestant nations by whom the history of North Amer- 
ica in later times has been principally treated ; and has 
hindered them, perhaps, from acknowledging his great merits 
as an able and energetic navigator and explorer, by Avhose 
endeavors many of the great geograpliical problems have 
been solved. 

No sooner had this great commander been removed by 
death, than the Spanish interests in Florida, no longer sus- 
tained by his zeal and activity, began to decline,* and were 
soon effectually supplanted by the heroic adventurers of an- 
other nation, following rapidly to our coast, in the tracks of 
Ribault, Laudonniere, and Menendez. This new era in the 

* Barcia, 1. c. p. 153. 



474 EXPLORATION OF MAEQUEZ, 1573. 

history of discovery in America begins with a commission 
given by Queen Elizabeth to the brothers Gilbert and Ra- 
leigh, in the year 1578; a date which marks the conclusion 
of this, and the commencement of another volume 

The influence exerted by the expeditions above described, 
particularly those of the French Protestants to Florida, upon 
the discovery and settlement of the north-east section of our 
coast, especially the coast of Maine, and certain relations ex- 
isting between the former and the latter, may be summed up 
in a few words : 

1. Jean Ribault, in 1562, was commissioned "to discover 
and survey a certain long coast of the West Indies, from the 
head of the land called ' La florlda,' drawing toward the 
north parts unto the head of Britons, distant from La florlda 
900 leagues or thereabouts." The commission, therefore, in- 
cluded the whole coast of the Gulf of Maine. 

2. Ribault, on his voyage to the West Indies in that year, 
took a new northern route over the ocean in about the lati- 
tude of New England ; and intended to establish this as a 
national French route, in opposition to the old southern route 
till that time frequented by the Spaniards. He himself re- 
peatedly adopted this course ; and by It opened a shorter way 
for subsequent English navigators, on their western voyages. 
It was by this shorter northern route of Ribault, that Gosnold 
reached the coast of Maine In 1602. 

3. The expedition of Ribault was planned after that of 
Verrazano, who, In 1524, had been on the coast of Maine, 
and on whose chart the Gulf of Maine had been represented 
as separated from the Western Ocean, or the " Sea of Ver- 
razano," only by a narrow isthmus. In pursuance of that 
plan, he would accordingly have been brought to the coast of 
Maine, and in searching for a passage to Cathay, he would 
naturally have sought it along this coast. 



EXPLORATION OF MARQUEZ, 1573. 475 

4. But llibault, having disregarded his instructions by de- 
laying in Florida to estabhsh a colony there, neglected to 
obey the order for a survey of the coast as high up as Cape 
Breton. He thus lost the opportunity of seeing tlie inviting 
harboi's of New York and of Maine, and of adding his testi- 
mony in their favor to that given by Verrazano : and also the 
opportunity, which never returned, of establisliing a French 
settlement in these*i'egions, more remote from the centre of 
the Spanish power in tlxe new woi'ld, and less liable to its 
interference. 

5. The French colonists left by Ribault in Florida, com- 
pelled by distress and want to abandon tlie country, v/ere res- 
cued by an English vessel, and carried to England. Tliere, 
in 1563, they made report of their ti;ansactions to Queen 
Elizabeth, and awakened the interest of the English people in 
the subject of American colonization. 

6. Several French sailors in Ribault's expedition appear to 
have remained in the English service. Some of them Avent 
out with Master John Hawkins in 1565, and showed him the 
way to the place in Florida where Laudonniere, in 1564, had 
established a new French settlement. On his homeward 
voyage Hawkins visited this colony, saw its situation and 
advantages ; and, following the Gulf-stream, traversed, with 
more than one hundred of his countrymen, the entire east 
coast from south to north, as far as Newfoundland. He was 
the first Englishman who had done this, and was a pioneer of 
the English navigators to northern and southern Virginia. 

7. Laudonniere, commander of the second French under- 
taking, Le Moyne the painter, who had made an accurate 
map of French Florida, and Challeux, who, like Laudonniere 
and Ribault, gave a written description of this country, were, 
on their homeward voyage in 1565, carried to England ; 
which thus, for a second time, had the earliest news of the 



476 EXPLOEATIOX OF ]MARQUEZ, 1573. 

Frencli disaster, and of the destruction of their settlement 
by tlie Spaniards. This circumstance also was the probable 
cause of the connection of Le Moyne, the French map-maker, 
with Sir Walter Raleigh, the founder of English America, 
and of the earlier and wider diffusion of the knowledge of 
this country in England, than in France. 

8. The Spaniards, also, as Avell as the English, and for still 
more urgent reasons, were attracted bj the French Protes- 
tants to Florida ; and having subverted the French settle- 
ments, set up their own government, fortified the coast in its 
southernmost section, survej-ed it minutely as far north as 
Chesapeake Bay, explored the interior as far as the Appala- 
chian mountains, continued the search for a western passage 
in that northern section pointed out by Cortes, and reasserted 
their claims to the whole of North America, as high north as 
Labrador; not only planting the Spanish flag in their charts 
over this whole territory under the name of Florida, but 
adopting measures of regulation for regions as far north as to 
the Banks of Newfoundland. 



CHAPTER XII. 

CONCLUSION AND RECAPITULATION. 



The eager search for a passage to the Pacific Ocean by 
the west and north-west, which had eno;a2;ed tlie attention of 
European nations in the early part of the sixteenth century, 
was, after a while, wholly abandoned for a season. But in 
the latter part of the century, a series of western voyages 
was undertaken by these nations with a different object and 
result. 

It would be interesting here to inquire into the cause of 
this remarkable fact, and endeavor to account for it. But 
having proposed to finish the present volume at this period 
of our history, and as the revival of north-western expedi- 
tions by France and England in the voyages of Frobisher, 
Gilbert, De Monts, and others will occupy a future volume, 
I will here briefly review the ground which has been trav- 
ersed, and for the sake of convenience will exhibit the whole 
work of the discovery of the east coast of North America, 
and particularly of the coast of Maine, under the agency of 
the several nations of Europe who were concerned in it. 



1. Agency of the Northmen. 
The Northmen were the first Europeans who discovered 
and explored the coasts and countries of the north-east of 
America. They described them under the names " Hellu- 



478 AGENCY OF THE ENGLISH, 

land," "Markland," and " Vinland," and considered them 
as belonging to the north of Europe. They visited them 
repeatedly during more than three hundred years, from the 
eleventh to the fourteenth century, as far down as Cape 
Cod and its vicinity. Their republic in Iceland gradually 
decreased in power, and at length became a province of 
Norway and Denmark. Their colonies in America, first in 
Vinland and Markland, then in Greenland, declined, and 
were at last totally destroyed. Their exploits in these regions 
were forgotten ; so that in modern times, learned men have 
been obliged to search in old Scandinavian documents for 
proof of their reality and importance. 

The coast of Maine was seen and traversed by the North- 
men on several occasions. From some traces of the Scan- 
dinavian language found among the aborigines of Maine, 
it would appear, that the Northmen must have trafficked, 
and perhaps dwelt, among their tribes. They probably in- 
cluded Maine under this name of " Vinland ; " though it 
may perhaps have sometimes been considered as belonging 
to "Markland." On a chart of these discoveries, Maine is 
put down under the name of " Drogeo," which country was 
afterwards depicted by geographers as an island, floating in 
the middle of the ocean. 



2. Agexcy of the English. 
Expeditions to the shores of North America are said to 
have gone forth from the British Isles in very ancient times, 
and even in advance of the Northmen ; first, under the con- 
duct of Madoc, a Prince of Wales, and afterwards under the 
lead of Irish adventurers. Their undertakings in the north- 
west, toward Iceland and its vicinity, do not appear to have 
ever entirely ceased. During the fourteenth and fifteenth 



I 



AGENCY OF THE ENGLISH. 479 

centuries they maintained a flourisliing commerce -with Ice- 
land, chiefly from tlie port of Bristol, and sometimes made 
warlike and piratical expeditions into that region, even as far 
as Greenland. The same may be said of their rivals, the 
Planseatic traders and pirates. During the fifteenth centmy, 
numerous English and Hanseatic vessels sailed to Iceland and 
its vicinity, and it is not unlikely that they were there in- 
formed of the existence of those western countries, formerly 
visited by the Icelanders, and still recognized in their tradi- 
tions. Occasionally, too, an English vessel may have been 
driven by gales to the American coast, although Ave have no 
evidence of any such fact. 

The Anglo-Scandinavian commerce carried Columbus to 
Iceland, and the Cabots, not long after, beyond it ; and thus 
gave an impulse to the discovery of the rest of America. In 
the approach to the northern parts of America, the English 
may be said to have taken the lead, under the conduct of the 
Cabots, assisted by the merchants and sailors of Bi'Istol. 
Toward the end of the fifteenth century, they reconnoitered 
nearly the entire east coast of America ; and in so doing, 
doubtless explored the coast of that region, destined, two cen- 
turies later, to bear the name of New England, and to be the 
principal centre of the English power on the continent. 

During the reign of Henry VII. and Henry VIII. several 
expeditions were made by the English to tlie north-east of 
America. Their leading motive in those expeditions was the 
hope of finding a shorter passage to the rich countries of 
eastern Asia. But in this respect their undertakings were 
failures, and for the most part, unfortunate ; their crews and 
ships being always exposed to perils from the ice, and often 
entirely wrecked. The last English expedition of this kind, 
in 1536, ended so terribly, with such loss of life, and other 
disasters, that a most unfavorable impression appears to have 



480 AGENCY OF THE ENGLISH. 

been made by it on the nation. After this, for nearly fifty 
years, tlie English seem to have entirely abandoned the east 
coast of North America, and their explorations of the north- 
west. Their skill in maritime affairs was not yet great. 
Their commercial and marine fleet was not large ; and their 
ships fonnd more profitable occupation in capturing the ships 
of the Portuguese and Spaniards, returning home richly laden 
with the products of the mines of the South, than in explor- 
ing the icy seas and sterile shores of the North. Their rulers, 
Henry VIII, during the latter part of his reign, Edward VI, 
Mary, and Elizabeth during the first part of her reign, were 
more occupied with the affairs of religion and the church, and 
with foreign wars, than with exploring new countries, or set- 
tling questions of geography. And when at last they came 
to be able to employ some of their means and forces in the 
work of discovery, they were diverted from the north-west 
into other directions. This was owing, in part, to the influence 
of Sebastian Cabot himself This o-reat navifrator, after hav- 
ing conducted several expeditions from England, in search of 
a passage to China by the north-west, appears to have be- 
come satisfied, that further attempts in that direction were 
hopeless ; and he now thought, that a shorter route to India 
might be found by sailing to the north-cast, round the north 
of Europe and Asia. Through his influence, soon after the 
middle of the sixteenth century, several exploring expeditions 
went from England, under Hugh Willoughby, Richard Chan- 
cellor, and Stephen Burrough, intended to reach Cathay by 
the north-east. Though they did not arrive at their destina- 
tion, they found a route to Russia by sea, and originated a 
very profitable commerce with that country. 

These may be some of the reasons why no official explor- 
ing expedition, for more than forty years after 1536, was 
directed to our coasts from England. Meanwhile the fishing 



AGENCY OF THE ENGLISH. 481 

expeditions to the Banks of Newfonndland, which had begun 
witli the discovery of the Cabots, continued after the expedi- 
tion of Horc. And once at least during this interval, these 
coasts were reached by a great English navigator and ex- 
plorer, Sir John Hawkins, Avho having been attracted to Flor- 
ida by the French settlements, and gviided by French pilots, 
sailed along the east coast of North America in 1565. Haw- 
kins thus became a pioneer of those enterprises, which, be- 
ginning in 1578 with the letters-patent of Queen Elizabeth, 
and under the command of Gilbert and Raleigh, form a new 
era in the history of American discovery. 
• The coast of Maine, in particular, was visited during this 
period, perhaps by Cabot in 1498 ; and also by Rut in 1527, 
when some of his company probably landed, and our shores 
were for the first time trodden by the feet of Englishmen. 

The territory of Maine appears, at this time, to have been 
known by the English, under the names of "the NeW Isles," 
" the Newfoundland," or " the country of Bacallaos," which 
were first given by the Cabots. After Cabot, however, the 
English generally adopted the names given to these countries 
by other nations. 

But little as was done by the English, during this period, 
in their naval enterprises, still less was accomplished in their 
literary efforts to preserve and diffuse the knowledge of what 
had been really effected by their voyagers. The original re- 
ports and descriptions made by Cabot, and which must have 
been invaluable, were lost, and have never been recovered. 
A chart, composed by him in 1544,* was printed, but nearly 
all its copies were lost. The same is true of all the reports 

* [Another chart was made by Cabot, immediately after his return from 

his first voyage in 141)7, which was seen and partially described by D'Ay- 

ala in his letter to Ferdinand and Isabella, July 25, 1498. This document 

is found in Bergenroth's Calendar of the Spanish Archives, vol. 1, p. 177.— 

Ed.] 

31 



482 AGENCY OF THE PORTUGUESE. 

which may liave been made at tiiat time by other Enghsh ex- 
plorers on our coasts. 

But at length, toward the end of this period, Richard Eden 
collected and published, in 1577, his book of travels to the 
West and East Indies, and tlms gave a new impulse to the 
spirit of discovery among his countrymen. Before this time 
he had published, in 1553, a less important work, "Treatise 
of the New India," which was only a translation of Sebastian 
Miinster's cosmography. After Eden followed Master Rich- 
ard Hakluyt. The first of his voluminous collections of 
voyages was not published, however, until 1582, and there- 
fore falls into a later period than the one comprised within 
the present volume. 

The few charts of the east coast which were composed by 
Englishmen during this time, were mostly copied from Span- 
ish, French, and Portuguese originals. 



3. Agency of the Portuguese. 

The Portuguese were the first who followed the lead of the 
Cabots in their ideas and plans for north-western discovery. 
Emanuel, king of Portugal, sent out, between the years 
1500 and 1503, several expeditions to the north-east of Amer- 
ica, under the command of Gaspar Cortereal and his brothers. 
These voyages were very unfortunate, resulting in the loss 
of men, ships, and money. Discouraged by these reverses, 
and becoming more and more occupied with the more fa- 
voi'ed regions of Brazil and the East Indies, the Portuguese 
sovereigns abandoned the work of northern discovery. The 
Portuguese continued, however, their private enterprises ; and, 
following the track of the Cortereals and Cabots, they yearly 
visited the fishing-grounds of Newfoundland, the richest in 
the Avorld. During the greater part of the sixteenth century, 



AGENCY OF THE PORTUGUESE. 483 

they were the most active fishermen on the banks, and gained 
and communicated much information concerning those re- 
gions, and the neighboring waters and coasts of Labrador, 
and Davis' and Hudson's Straits. We find these coasts and 
waters for the first time accurately depicted on Portuguese 
charts. 

From these charts, as well as from other circumstances, it 
is quite certain, that the Portuguese visited Nova Scotia and 
the Bay of Fundy, and probably also the coast of Maine. 

The names given by the Portuguese to these regions are 
" Terra de Labrador," and "Terra de Cortereal." The first 
is applied only to the more northern countries ; first to Green- 
land, and afterwards to the present Labrador. The second is 
more strictly applied to Newfoundland ; though it was under- 
stood by the Portuguese to comprise all the country west of 
it, which was known to them. But when the Cortereals, in 
the course of time Avere forgotten, other names, given by for- 
eigners, were adopted instead of theirs, even by their own 
countrymen. The first fair delineation of Nova Scotia and 
the Bay of Fundy is found in a Portuguese chart of the year 
1558. 

The charts made by the Portuguese are a better source of 
information on these coasts, than their books. No full report 
of a Portuguese explorer to the north has been preserved. 
Even regarding the voyages of the Cortereals, we find in 
Portuguese authors only scattered and occasional notices. 
Galvano, a Portuguese author, composed and published in 
this period a chronological survey of voyages of discovery, 
which contains many valuable allusions to our region. 

In 1583, numerous Portuguese vessels and seamen were 
found on the coast of Newfoundland ; but after this we do 
not hear much of them in that region. Soon after 1580, 
Portugal was conquered by Philip of Spain, and merged in 



4S4 AGEN'Cr OF THE gPAyTA'RT>5. 

Ms 0"WTi kingdom. Br this "anhappr rmi o-n -witii Spain, and 
other adrerse circumstances, the marititne power of the Por- 
tuguese Tras destroTed, their colonies were subverted, and 
their energy and industrr paralvzed. The Portuguese there- 
fore disappeared fix)m our waters, and their fisheries on the 
banks were abandoned. Thev never made a permanent es- 
tablishment on our coasts, though in their maps they planted 
their banner on several countries in the vicinity of Maine. 
A few geographical names on the coast of Newfoundland, 
and the name '^ Labi-ador,'' are the only remaining monu- 
ments of the presence in our waters of this once interesting 
and powerful nation. 



4. Agzis'ct or the SpAyiARDB. 

Agramonte and other enterprising Spanish navigators, 
after the voyages of Cabot and Cortereal to the north-west, 
urged upon the king of Spain to undertake similar expedi- 
tions, but without success- The exploring voyages of that 
nation were commenced from its colonies in the West Indies. 
From this centre of their operations they advanced toward 
the north, along the shores of what are now the States of 
Florida, Georgia, and Carolina. On this track they expected 
soon to find an end of the northern countries : and several of 
their explorers in this direction were ordered to turn west- 
ward as soon as possible, and sail into the Western Ocean 
toward the ^Moluccas. Cortes, the conqueror of Mexico, also 
proposed to make search for a western passage somewhere 
south of Newfoundland ; and in 1525, EstcA'an Gomez was 
directed to these latitudes. For the same ptirpose he sun'eyed 
a great section of the coast between 40' and 45^ N., and ex- 
plored with much care the coast of Maine ; particularly the 
large bay and river of Penobscot, to which he gave the name 



AGEXCT OF THE SPAXTAKDS. 485 

of " Rio de las Gamas. " He made a chart of the coast, which 
wa? used bv the royal cosmographer Ribero for his great map 
of the world. But Gomez found neither a passage to the 
west, nor gold, nor other valuable products in the coimtries 
seen by him. His voyage was the last official Spanish expe- 
dition in search of a passage to the Pacific on the eastern side 
of America. The Spaniards, however, for a long time be- 
lieved in the existence of such a passage, and laid plans for 
its discovery, which were still prosecuted, in 1570, by their 
great navigator, Pedro Menendez. But after the conquest 
of the rich countries on the shores of the South Sea, they 
thought the long-sought passage might be more easily discov- 
ered from the western, than the eastern side of America ; and 
therefore carried on, from the time of Cortes, a series of ex- 
ploitations along the west coast of North America under the 
command of Francisco UUoa, Juan Rodriguez de Cabrillo, and 
others, who extended the linjits of Spanish conquest and dis- 
covery on that side far north, to California and the Strait of 
De Fiica. On the eastern side of North America, the coun- 
tries lying in, the high latitudes where Gomez had been occu- 
pied, were never reached again by the Spaniards, except only 
by the fishermen of the Basque provinces, to whom Gomez 
had opened the way. 

The Biscayans, always active fishermen, followed Gomez 
yearly to the Grand Banks, as the Portuguese had followed 
Cortereal ; and as they probably carried their cargoes dii'ectly 
to Havana and other Spanish settlements in the West Indies, 
we may infer that they sometimes came in sight of our coast. 

At the end of the sixteenth and beginning of the seven- 
teenth century, these Spanish fisheries on the Banks of 
NewR>undland gradually declined, and came to an end, like 
those of the Portuguese. Both these nations gave place here 
to the Fi"ench, who were soon followed by the English. 



486 AGENCr OF THE SPANIARDS. 

No regular official survey of the coast of New England 
was made after that of Gomez, during the period under con- 
sideration, nor until the explorations and surveys of the 
French and English, near the end of the sixteenth century ; 
so that nearly all the representations of our coast contained 
in the Spanish, as well as in the French and English maps of 
this time, and in the works of Mercator, Ortelius, and others, 
were, as far as our coast is concerned, only copies of the 
survey of Gomez, handed down to us by Ribero. The charts 
of Verrazano were eventually lost; and the chart of Homem 
of 1558, which shows that some progress had been made by 
private adventurers in the knowledge of the coast, received 
no attention from these geographers. So that nearly all the 
names planted by Gomez on the coast of New England were 
transmitted, and became nearly as permanent as those left by 
Cortereal on the coast of Newfoundland. We always see in 
these works our great and beautiful Penobscot River partic- 
ularly conspicuous, under the name of " Rio de las Gamas," 
or " Rio formosa," or " Rio de Gomez," with its diverging 
branches, the numerous islands at its mouth, and the great 
cities on either bank, sometimes superadded. 

The first Spanish cosmographers and map-makers gave to 
these coasts the name of " Tierra de Gomez," under which, 
together with Maine, the rest of New England and Nova 
Scotia were comprised. They also apply to these northern 
parts of " Florida," a name given to them by the French, 
namely, " Arambe," or "Arambec," which has so marked 
a similarity to the Indian name " Norumbega," that it must 
be regarded as havino- the same orimn. 

O CTl & 

The historians of S})ain, during this period, furnish us with 
important information relative to our subject ; although their 
narratives, even that of Gomez, are neither complete nor ex- 
act. The Decades of Peter Martyr, the first chronicler of 



AGENCY OF THE FRENCH. 487 

events in the new world, contain on our regions, as on the 
whole of America, the most full and useful information. The 
works of Gomara and Oviedo communicated still more ample 
knowledge. In 1537, Oviedo gave the best and most accu- 
rate description of our east coast, which has come down to 
us from the sixteenth century ; and Hcrrera's work on the 
history of Spanish discovery is of the highest interest. At 
a later date another Spanish author, Bai'cia, composed a 
special work on the history of " Florida," a name then used 
by the Spaniards as synonymous Avith North America. And 
in quite modern times, the well-known Navarrete published 
from scattered documents in the archives of Spain, a collec- 
tion of voyages of the highest interest relating to this coun- 
try.* 

5. Agency of tue French. 

The French from Brittany and Normandy, like the Portu- 
guese, soon after the expeditions of Cabot and Cortereal, 
began to resort to the fishing-grounds on the Banks of New- 
foundland, and continued their operations there during the 
whole of the sixteenth century, by the side, first of the Por- 
tuguese, and afterwards of the Spanish Biscayans, who were 
principal actors in this profitable employment. And, like 
the Portuguese, they also continued the discoveries which the 
great official explorers had commenced ; particularly on the 
west and south-west of Newfoundland, and about Cape Bre- 
ton, which they named " Terre des Bretons." Under this 
name they included, on some of their old maps, not only the 

*[This work was entitled "Collection of the Voyages and Maritime 
Discoveries made by the Spaniards since the close of the Fifteenth Cen- 
tury." The first two volumes were published in Madrid in 1825, the fourth 
and fifcli in 1837, the sixth and seventh not until after the death of the au- 
thor, which took place in 184i, at the age of sdveuty-uine. — Ed.] 



488 AGENCY OF THE FRENCH. 

future Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, but sometimes also 
the territory of Maine, thus embracing this entire region. 
Soon after the beginning of the sixteenth century, they ap- 
pear also to have extended their voyages to the Gulf of St. 
Lawrence, and to have o-ained some knowledire of the o;reat 
river of Canada. Our accounts of their proceedings, how- 
ever, are meagre ; and it is difficult to decide how much was 
done by them, and how much by the Portuguese. 

At last in 1524, the royal French expedition under Verra- 
zano was sent to our coasts, of which we have full and good 
reports. But these reports were so long, that they were read 
by few persons, and did little to perpetuate the memory of 
this navigator and his discoveries, Avhile his charts were gen- 
erally and readily examined and understood, and frequently 
copied. But as the charts of Verrazano were not preserved, 
so neither were the names nor the geographical delineations 
doubtless contained in them ; while the chart of Gomez, hav- 
mg been copied by Ribero, and often republished, perpetu- 
ated the names he had given, though it Avas not accompanied 
by any written report. 

The voyages of Verrazano were followed by those of 
Jacques Cartier. This great navigator, in his remarkable 
voyages of 1535 and 1543, accurately surveyed the. whole 
coast-line of the Gulf of St. Lawrence, and a large section of 
the great river of Canada. These surveys were repeatedly 
copied by subsequent map-makers, and form the basis of the 
maps and charts of that period. 

Soon after Cartier, Francis I, the patron of Verrazano 
and himself, died ; and his successors, Henry II, Francis II, 
and Henry III, were too much occupied by political and re- 
ligious dissensions at home, to give any attention to affairs in 
the new world. The same causes also operated in Germany 
and England, to divert their governments and people from the 



AGENCY OF THE FRENCH. 489 

remote and less exciting oLjects of discovery and colonization. 
It was left for the Huguenots, in seeking a place of refuge 
from persecution, to direct attention again to America. In 
their behalf, Ribault, Laudonniere, and others, soon after 
the middle of the sixteenth century, undertook several expe- 
ditions to the southern section of our east coast, which had 
also an important bearing on the discovery of its northern 
section. Among the great maritime powers of Europe, Spain 
was the only one which preserved tranquillity at home, and 
energetically pursued transatlantic conquest, enriching her- 
self by the spoils of the new world. The whole navigation 
of France and England, at the end of this period, was reduced 
to privateering and piracy. It was not until near the close 
of the sixteenth century, that great and honorable explorers 
and adventurers, superseding the French and English " cor- 
sarios," with a noble rivalry, completed the discovery of our 
coast, and solved the geographical questions connected with it. 
After the voyages of Verrazano and Cartier, the grand 
name, " La Nouvelle France," was given to the countries 
around the Gulf of St. Lawrence, and included also the terri- 
tory of Maine and the rest of New England, as far down as 
40° N. But this name wa"s sometimes applied by French geog- 
raphers to the whole of North America ; in the same manner 
as the Spaniards extended their name " Florida " over the 
same region. The French also gave the Indian name, " No- 
rumbega," to a portion of New France ; and we find it applied 
on some old maps to the country of the Bretons and Nova 
Scotia. But it is generally confined to that part of the coast 
lying north of the fortieth degree ; to which, as was conceded 
by the French, the Spanish " Florida" extended. The cen- 
tre of the region covered by this aboriginal name, how- 
ever, appears always to have been the Penobscot River, " the 
great river of Norumbega." And this name is found still 



490 AGENCY OF THE ITALIANS. 

applied to tills central region, long after it had disappeared 
from the adjacent countries. 

The French explorers of this period composed the most full 
and hest reports of their expeditions, which, hy a singular good 
fortune, have nearly all been preserved, and especially those 
of Verrazano, of Cartier, of Ribault, and of Laudonniere. 
They are a most important source of information on the con- 
dition of the east coast in the sixteenth century. 



6.. Agency of the Italians. 

The progress of discovery in America, whether considered 
as a whole or in its different sections, was accomplished not 
alone hy the direct action of the great maritime powers of 
the day, Portugal, Spain, France, and England, but also by 
the indirect agency of private members of other nations, 
settled at a greater distance from the shores of the Western 
Ocean, but further advanced in the sciences of geography 
and astronomy, so necessary for maritime success. 

Some of the exploring expeditions undertaken by the Span- 
ish, French, and English, we have called by their names only 
in a political sense ; because their commissions were given, 
their explorers were mostly paid, and their profits wholly en- 
joyed by these several governments. But with respect to the 
scientific principles, the leading ideas, and the whole spirit 
which originated and animated them, they must, partly at 
least, be ascribed to private individuals of other nations. Thus 
the enterprise of Columbus for the discovery of America is 
usually culled a Spanish enterprise, which indeed it was, in a 
political sense, Columbus, however, was not only born and 
educated in Italy, but acquired his nautical experience in Ital- 
ian waters, and was imbued with the adventurous spirit of the 
old Italian navigators, of which the Spaniards of his time had 



AGENCY OF THE ITALIANS. 491 

very little, except what lie imparted to them. The friends, 
too, with whom he corresponded, Toscanelli, Peter Martyr, 
and others, including among these the Pope of Rome, by whom 
he was instructed, encouraged, and applauded, were all Ital- 
ians. The same may be said of the voyages of the Cabots, 
which, though justly called English enterprises in the sense 
above-mentioned, may, in another sense, be justly considered 
Italian ; inasmuch as the Cabots, like Columbus, had their 
birth and education in Italy, and conducted their enteri)rises 
on the ideas and principles which they had learned from their 
Italian masters. 

Exactly the same is true also of the expedition of Verra- 
zano, which is properly considered a French expedition, in so 
far as it was luidertaken by order of the king of France, and 
in behalf of French interests ; but in so far as Verrazano, 
like Columbus and Cabot, was an Italian, educated in the 
Italian school of maritime science, and associated by sympa- 
thy and correspondence with Italian cosmographers, his expe- 
dition, also, must be considered, in an important sense, Ital- 
ian ; or more exactly, an Italian enterprise under French 
auspices. 

But, in truth, the way to tho discovery of America was 
pointed out to the nations of Europe by the Italians, long 
before the voyages of Verrazano, of the Cabots, or even of 
■Columbus. In proof of this, it will only be necessary to 
remind the reader of what has been said of the voyages and 
charts of the brothers Zeni. 

But a full discussion of the influence of Italy upon maritime 
discovery, would carry me beyond the allotted limits of this 
volume, and I shall pursue it no further. 

I must not, however, omit to notice the agency of Italian 
authors in recording the history of what was done by their 
own and other nations in the discovery of America. Some 



492 AGENCY OF THE ITALIANS. 

of the very first reports on. western discovery were either 
written, or collected and published, by Italian authors. To this 
class belong the invaluable reports of Peter Martyr d'An- 
ghiera, an Italian in the service of Spain, from whom we have 
obtained very important information on the voyage of Este- 
van Gomez to our coast. Here also may be mentioned the 
first collection of voyages of discovery in America ever made, 
which was published by some anonymous Italian author in 
Vicenza, in 1507. 

Italy, during this period, kept a vigilant watch upon the 
oceanic action of Portugal and Spain. This was true espe- 
cially of the cities of Venice and Rome, the ambassadors of 
which always kept the governments at home fully and accu- 
rately informed of everything done by the governments to 
which they were sent, in relation to discovery and coloniza- 
tion in the west. By such means the Italians, especially in 
those central positions where these reports were collected and 
published, became better acquainted than any other nation, 
with the western voyages and adventures of Spain and Por- 
tugal, and also of England and France. These reports, pub- 
lished in Italy, were diffused over Europe ; and thus was 
communicated intellio;ence of discoveries in America which 
would otherwise have been little known. Even at this day, 
our best information on the voyages of the Cabots, the Cor*- 
tereals, the Verrazanos, and the Cartiers to our east coast< 
comes from Italian sources, and especially from the great work, 
" Delle Navigation! et Viaggi," published in Venice, by Gio- 
vanni Battista Ramusio. 

In Venice, where art and science flourished, a large school 
of skillful cartographers arose. Many of the first maps of 
the new world were made and printed there, and were usu- 
ally added to the iiumerous Italian editions of Ptolemy. It 
was here also that Baptista Agnese, and other Italians, com- 



AGENCY OF THE GERMANS. 498 

posed innumerable " Portolanos," * or sea-charts, on ■wliicli 
the discoveries of new countries were depicted, whicli were 
dispersed through the world, to be used by explorers on their 
new and dangerous routes. Even foreio-n chart-makers, and 
amono- them the Portnouese Homem, were attracted to Yen- 
ice, and composed their works in that city, Avhere they found 
the best assistance from artists, mathematicians, and cosmogra- 
phers. Copies of several of these Italian, or more strictly 
Venetian charts, which throw much light on the history of 
" western discoveries," are placed in this volume. 

But near the end of the sixteenth century, when France 
and England entered "svith new spirit upon a new career of 
American discovery and colonization, the learned men of 
those countries took into their own hands the business of'col- 
lecting, preserving, and publishing narratives and charts of 
maritime adventure ; and, meanwhile, the Italians lost that 
literary preeminence which they had gained by their earlv 
publications on the history of American discovery. 



7. Agexcy of the GeeMx\.ns. 

The Germans also may be mentioned among those nations 
Avho, in many ways, assisted the work of discovery in the 
new world. German soldiers and seamen are often men- 
tioned as making part of the crews of the great navigators, and 
especially of Magellan on his first navigation round the globe. 
And was not that companion of the old Northman Leif, the 
good-natured Tyrker, a German ? And did not this Ger- 
man, by his discovery of grapes in the woods of New Eng- 
land, and by the satisfaction he exhibited in this discovery, 
give occasion for applying to this country the name of " Yin- 

* Portolano means " a coast-pilot;" also, " a book in which ports or har- 
bors are described," 



494 AGENCY OF THE GERMANS. 

land the good," tlie first name under which it became known 
to the civihzed world? And was not that man a German, 
who, in 1037, having paid a high price for a rare piece of wood 
from the forests of New England, made it an article of com- 
merce, commendmg it at the same time in a report of the 
country -from which it came? And was it not a German au- 
thor, Adam of Bremen, who first published an account of the 
discovery of Vinland, at a time when little interest was felt 
in such tidings, even if they could have been at all compre- 
hended, either by his own countrymen, or by the rest of 
Europe ? 

If not great navigators themselves, the Germans were emi- 
nent in those sciences and arts which are necessary to navi- 
gation. The earliest of modern astronomers Avere Germans : 
and distino-uished amono; these was John Miiller, better known 
under his Latin name, " Regiomontanus," * who, from Nu- 
remberg, his place of residence, in the interior of Germany, 
guided and regulated the routes of navigators and explorers 
on the trackless ocean. His astronomical Ephemerides, in 
which he had calculated in advance the movements of the 
moon and stars from 1475, to 1506 f was used by Bartholo- 
mew Diaz, Vasco de Gama, Columbus, and Vespucci, on the 
coasts of Africa and America, as they themselves have stated. 
In Nuremberg there flourished, after Regiomontanus, a large 
school of skillful mathematicians and astronomers. 

From the same town there sprang another great German 
geographer, the famous Martin Behaim, a contemporary and 
personal friend of Columbus, who, like him, resided for several 
years in Portugal, — that part of the European continent 
which stretches furthest toward the west. Behaim also, like 

* So called froin his birth-place " Konigsberg," in Latin " Eegiomon-- 
tium." 

t See Humboldt, Kritiachc Untersuchungen, vol. 1, p. 232. 



AGENCY OF THE GERMANS. 495 

Columbus, 'studied cosmography, composed charts, and like 
hiin also, made voyages to the Azores and the western coast 
of Africa, then the outposts of Portuguese discovery. And, 
still following the example of Columbus, he married the 
daughter of one of the principal residents of these islands ; 
so that both Behaim and Columbus may be said to have be- 
come connected with the ocean by marriage. By these ante- 
cedents, and by the high esteem in which he was held by the 
king of Portugal, it would seem as if Behaim was qualified, 
Jike Columbus, to become a practical navigator, and himself 
an explorer in the west. He contented himself, however, 
with the more modest fame of constructing an improved asti'o- 
labium, which the Portuguese and Spanish navigators hung 
up on the masts of their vessels.* 

As in mathematics and astronomy, so also in the arts of 
typography, wood-cutting and engraving, the Germans, in 
the time of Columbus, occupied a high place. This was the 
epoch of Albrecht Dlirer and his school. German printers 
were dispersed throughout Europe. They printed in Seville, 
among otiier reports on America, the first letter written by 
Columbus from the new world. German eno;ravers, who 
often were also good mathematicians, engraved many of the 
first maps of America, not only in Germany, but in Italy, 
and wherever else their science and skill had procured for 
them employment ; the German Ruyscli, for instance, who 
engraved in Rome a map of America, a copy of which is 
supplied in this volume. Composing maps of the world from 
materials furnished by navigators of other nations, seems 
to have been a passion with these Germans. Of the twenty- 
one editions of Ptolemy, issued in the first half of the six- 
teenth century, nearly all of which are embellished with 
charts, not less than sixteen were published in Germany. 

* See Humboldt, 1. c. p. 234. 



496 AGENCY OF THE NETHERLANDERS. 

The Germans became, in fact, tlie great masters in the art 
of map-makhig. They constructed maps more accurately 
than others, and were the first who attempted that projection 
so useful to navigators, which, in 1569, was brought to per- 
fection by Mercator, in the little town of Duisburg, and 
which, from him, was called " Mercator's Projection."* 

By publishing many editions of the reports of Amerigo 
Vespucci, who was a favorite with the Germans, and by re- 
peating his name on the numerous maps of South America, 
where it was first placed, the German geographers and map- 
makers may be said to have fastened on the western conti- 
nent the name it now bears, and to have been the means of 
its becoming universally adopted. f The best and most com- 
plete map of the world of the sixteenth century was made in 
a small German town, under the patronage of a German 
])rince, by Mercator, the celebrated author of the planisphere. 
This famous map contained all parts of the old world, with 
the discoveries in the new, including portions of our north- 
east coast, very accurately drawn, and from the best authori- 
ties. 

8. Agency op the jSTetherlandees. 
The.Netherlanders, particularly the Flemings, had founded 
a colony in the western islands before the time of Columbus ; 
yet they do not appear until a much later period to have taken 
part in the work of discovery. And even as geographers, 
writers, printers, and map-makers, they fell far behind the 
Germans. After the death of Mercator, in 1595, the cop- 
perplates of his charts were sold to the Belgian Hondius, and 

* Compare upon this Peschel, Gescbiclite der Erdkuude, p. 368 seq. 
Miincben, 1865. 

t This question has been amply treated by D'Avezac, in bis work, " Mar- 
tin Hylacomylus" (Waltzemiiller), etc, Paris, 18G7. 



AGENCY OF THE NETHEELANDERS. 497 

were transported from Germany to the Nctlierlands, wliere 
another Mercator, the famous geographer and cartographer 
Ortelius, had arisen. After that time, geography and car- 
tography began to flourish in the Netherlands, while these, 
with other arts, gi-eatly declined in Germany. 

At the time of their struggle with Spain, the heroic and 
victorious Netherlanders became powerful on the ocean ; and 
particularly after Hudson's discoveries, and their settlement 
at New Amsterdam, they not only became a leading maritime 
power, but, what interests us more in our present object, they 
largely contributed to the progress of geography and car- 
tography, and gave improved drawings of the peninsula of 
New England and of the coast of Maine. But all this will 
find a more suitable place hereafter. 

What we have said in this concluding chapter will, we trust, 
justify us in bringing this volume to a close with the termina- 
tion of this first series of exploring voyages to America, 
undertaken by the four great maritime nations of Europe. 
These voyages, while proposed, in the first instance, to dis- 
cover a shorter route by the west to India, prepared the way 
for the further exploration of the north-east coast, and its 
settlement by the French and English. The history of these 
later enterprises, prosecuted by the Gilberts and Raleighs, 
the De Monts and Champlains, in the brilliant reigns of 
Elizabeth of England and Henry IV. of France, will furnish 
interesting materials for a future volume. 



32 



NOTICE. 



Bkunswick, Feb. 15, 1869. 
To Hon. Wm. Willis, ll.d.. Editor : 

Dear Sir, — I have the honor to present to you, for publication in the 
first volume of the new series of the Collections of the Maine Histor- 
ical Society, the translation of a letter I have lately received from 
M. D'Avezac, relating to some of the topics discussed in this volume. 
In one of the frequent and agreeable interviews which I enjoyed with 
this distinguished scholar during my recent residence in Paris, I took 
occasion to express to him the interest I had felt in some papers pub- 
lished by him a few years before, wherein he advocates the opinion, 
that the voyage made by the Cabots in which North xVmerica was first 
discovered, after the times of the Northmen, took place in 1494, and 
was followed in 1497, 149S, and 1517, by three successive voyages to the 
same regions. I stated to him at the same time my impression, that 
this opinion was generally regarded as having been disproved by 
certain documents, recently brought to light from the Venetian and 
Spanish archives ; and that it was certainly so considered by many of 
our best American scholars. He, however, had seen nothing in those 
documents to induce him to abandon the opinion referred to, or even 
to modify it materially. But he was disposed, in deference to the 
judgment of those who took a different view, for many of whom he 
entertained the highest personal regard, and also in compliance with 
my request in the name of our Society, to examine anew the subject in 
question, in the light of the more recent, as well as the earlier authori- 
ties. The results of that examination are contained in the letter, a 
translation of which is herewith submitted. And if the theory of the 
author is not cleared of all difficulties, and proved beyond a doubt, by 
this new vindication, it is certainly commended to the acceptance of 
his readers, by the learning and ability with which it is advocated. 
Between discussions so able, as that of Dr. Kohl in his sections on 
Cabot's map on the one side, and this of M. D'Avezac on the other, it 
must be difficult to decide. At all events, our readers may well con- 
sider themselves as enjoying the best means of coming to a just decis- 
ion on this question, which lies at the beginning of our history, in 
having it argued before them on opposite sides, by two of the most 
eminent living authors in this department of learning. 
I remain, dear Six-, 

Very truly and respectfully yours, &c., 

LEONARD WOODS. 



LETTER OF M. D'AVEZAC. 



TRANSLATED FROM THE FEENCH. 



42 Rue du Bag, Pakis, Dec. 15, 1868. 
To Leonard Woods, ll.d., Brunswick, Me.: 

Dear Sir, — You were pleased to remind me, last June, that I had 
incidentally attempted, more than ten years previously (in the Bulletin 
de la Societe de Geographie of Paris, October, 1857, note k, pp. 266 
to 278), to establish a certain order in the confused and contradictory 
notions which had been previously entertained, relating to the voyages 
of discovery of the two celebrated navigators, John and Sebastian 
Cabot, along the coasts of North America; and the distinction which I 
had proposed, of four successive expeditions under the dates, 1494, 1497, 
1498, and 1517, appeared to your indulgent courtesy to be a new and 
very plausible theory. 

But subsequently to the time when I announced that theory, many 
new documents, derived principally from the researches of Messrs. 
Eawdon Brown and George Bergenroth in the archives of Italy and 
Spain, had come to light, and were thought by you to have been gener- 
ally considered as affording a decisive argument in favor of the com- 
mon opinion, that it was in 1497 when the first voyage took place ; such 
at least you regarded as the opinion which had been professed by two 
of your most learned countrymen, in some erudite observations sug- 
gested by the map of Sebastian Cabot, at the time when a fac-simile 
copy of this map was presented to the American Antiquarian Society 
of Worcester, Massachusetts ; observations which have been published 
in the Proceedings of that Society for the years 1866 and 1867, and which 
are specially recommended by the names of their authors, the Reverend 
Edward E. Hale of Boston, and Charles Deane, Esq. of Cambridge. 
You subsequently added, with good reason, another name still more 
considerable, that of Mr. George Bancroft, the great historian of the 
United States, who had already made use of these documents, at that 
time not as yet published, in two biographical articles devoted to John 



LETTER OF M. D'AVEZAC. 503 

and Sebastian Cabot in the New American Encyclopedia, edited by 
Ripley and Dana; and I find myself at present in a condition to add to 
those a fonrtli name, that of Mr. John Carson Brevoort, President of 
the Historical Society of Long Island, from whom I have received at 
last, after many postal vicissitudes, a memoir on the voyage of Cabot of 
1497, printed last March in the Uistorical Magazine of New York. 

As this question is, at this moment, in the order of the day before the 
Historical Society of Maine, which contemplates the publication of a 
Documentary History of that State, you request me, in the name of 
that Society, to inform you, whether I consider the new documents to 
which you refer, as consistent with the theory which I had proposed ; 
and, at all events, whether my ideas upon the subject in question have 
undergone any modification in consequence of new researches, made 
either by myself or by others. My opinion deliberately formed on this 
subject, you had the kindness to add, will have the highest authority, 
not only in Europe, but also in America, with all persons who interest 
themselves in the study of the exploits performed by the great navi- 
gators of the heroic age of discovery, but who are embarrassed with the 
difficulties of this study. 

Permit me, dear sir, to say to you, first of all, how much the solemnity 
of this appeal alarms me, and how many serious perplexities are awak- 
ened in my mind by this judicial authority with which you seem, in some 
sort, to invest me, in a cause so much controverted, and not yet suffi- 
ciently cleared up : accordingly I do not hesitate to decline a part so 
ambitious ; and shall confine myself to setting forth what I believe to 
be the truth, without any pretension to be believed on my mere word, 
and without forbidding myself to advance, in case of an absolute chasm, 
some expletive conjecture, offering it simply for what it is, and sub- 
mitting it very humbly to the mercy of any who may not choose to 
accept it. 

It is five years since, that, on occasion of an edition of one of the 
voyages of Jacques Cartier, for which I was requested to furnish an his- 
torical introduction of a few pages, my studies were directed again to 
the whole series of European navigations along the coasts of America 
now under the dominion of the Anglo-Saxon race, from the first Irish 
predecessors of our present Fenians, from the Welsh of Madoc ap Owen, 
and the Scandinavians of Iceland, of Norway, and the Faroe Islands, 
down to the English, the Portuguese, the French, of the fifteenth and 
sixteenth centuries. The explorations of the two Cabots being thus 
taken up again in their natural connection, and examined anew, ap- 
peared to mo such as I had before considered them. This Breve et 



504 LETTER OP M. D'AVEZAC. 

succincte Introduction Mstorique, which I finished on the 12th of August, 
1863, and which appears at the head of the second voyage of Cartier, 
published by the Brothers Tross, was reprinted substantially in the 
July number, 1864, of the Annales des Voyages] of Malte-Brun, where 
the § (vi) relating to the Cabots, occupies less than two pages (77 to 
79), and reproduces, in a simple recital, the results of which I had given 
a resume in 1857, in the Bulletin de la Societe de Geographic of Paris. 

Tour last appeal has led me to take up again, with more care, and 
with a more obstinate perseverance in the pursuit of original docu- 
ments, this history of the navigations of John and Sebastian Cabot to 
their new-found-lands. I have here attempted a narrative of these 
voyages, in which the passages adduced in support of each fact (les 
pieces justificatives) will be incorporated in their own language: for 
the necessity of relying only on the original texts has been proved to 
me, again and again, by the treacheries proverbially, and with too 
much reason, charged upon translators ; of which indeed I have met 
with more than one example in my i^resent inquiry. But these original 
texts, which must be generally procured from foreign archives and 
libraries, one never receives without waiting some time for them, which 
might delay a good deal the completion of my digest. But I am un- 
willing to postpone any longer a reply, which is already very late ; and 
I purpose to send you, succinctly, the history which has resulted from 
such an examination as I have thus far been able to give to the original 
sources, which are already accessible to my curiosity ; in which investi- 
gation, the most obliging assistance has been rendered me by the Abb6 
Valentinelli, the Marquis d'Adda, Mr. Buckingham Smith, Mr. Ber- 
genroth, Mr. Paul Meyer, for which it Avoiild be ungrateful in me not 
to return them my thanks in this place. 

I come now to the matter in hand. In some place, more or less 
obscure, in the region of Genoa, if not in the City of Palaces itself 
(perhaps precisely in Castiglione), toward the middle of the fifteenth 
century, as I suppose, John Cabota, Caboto, or Cabot was born ; who, 
early in 14G0 at the latest, went to live at Venice ; married there a daugh- 
ter of the country, by whom he had three sons ; and there, after fifteen 
years of residence, and by the unanimous consent of the senate, ex- 
pressed by one hundred and forty-nine votes, obtained from the doge 
(Andr6 Vandramino), on the 2Sth March, 1476, his naturalization as a 
citizen of Venice (privilegium civitatis de intus et extra). He had ad- 
dicted himself, it appears, with great success, to the study of cosmog- 
raphy and the practice of navigation : perhaps he had sought the teach- 
ing of the celebrated Florentine cosmographer, Paul ToscanelU ; and 



LETTER OF M. D'AVEZAC. 505 . 

at all events, he had doubtless adopted, with the avidity of a studious 
adept, the theories professed by that aged sage, respecting tlie dispo- 
sition of land and water on the surface of tlie globe, — theories, the 
fame of which had readied even to the court of Portugal, and had ex- 
cited there a curiosity, which he satisfied in a well-known letter writ- 
ten from Florence, under date of June 25, 1474, to Canon Fernam 
Martins, an intimate of Alphonso V, to whick there was annexed a 
nautical explanatory chart, representing the Atlantic Ocean, bounded 
on the east by the shores of Europe and Africa, and on the west by 
those of oriental Asia, with a total interval of 133° of longitude be- 
tween Lisbon and Quinsay, the magnificent capital of the mighty em- 
pire of Cathay. At 50° this side of Cathay, lay the great island of 
Zipangu or Japan. At 30° distance from Lisbon, the great island An- 
tilia, or the island of the " Seven Cities " was thrust forward, which the 
maps of the time placed beyond the Azores; with some other islands 
in a location less fixed, among which the island of Bresil occurred in 
different places. A direct way was thus boldly traced by the learned 
Florentine across the Western Ocean, even to that opulent country of 
the grand Khan, whose incomparable riches had been seen and related, 
two centuries before, by the Venetian Marco Polo. Tiie attention of 
Alonzo V. was diverted by cares nearer home, by a war witli strange 
reverses, from these meditations about a maritime route to the Indies 
by the west. But Cabot, who, in his travels in the east (Ei dice che 
altre volte esso e stato a la Mecha) had learned from the caravans of 
Arabia, that the spices came from hand to hand from the remotest coun- 
tries of the east, could not fail to revolve in his brain adventurous 
thoughts regarding the distant horizon, whei'e that extreme Orient was 
distinctly indicated, toward which he saw ranged, at due intervals 
like successive station-houses, the islands of Bresil, of Antilia, and 
then Zipangu ! 

The new citizen oT Venice, taking his wife and sons with him, to go 
into foreign parts to found an establishment of maritime commerce, in 
accordance with the cosmopolitan habits of the Venetians, selected for 
this purpose the English port of Bristol, the channel of which opens 
exactly toward those occidental regions, where Toscanelli pointed out, 
in the distance, the fortunate shores of Cathay. It may be conjectured, 
that it was not far from the year 1477, that the family of Cabot trans- 
ferred its Penates to this port in the extreme west of Europe; for the 
second son, Sebastian, whom I suppose to have been born in 1472 or 
1473, was then only a child. 

But, in 14S0, the 15th July, we see a ship and its consort, of eighty 



506 LETTER OF M. D'AVEZAC. 

tons burden, belonging to the merchant, Jay, the younger, and con- 
ducted by the most skillful mariner in all England, setting forth from 
Bristol to go west from Ireland to seek the island of Bresil ; and on the 
18fch of the September following, the news reaches Bristol, that after a 
cruise of two months, the expedition had returned to a port of Ireland 
without having found the island sought. This magister navis scientifi- 
cus marinarius totius Anglioi, I persuade myself is no other than John 
Cabot himself. 

But from a doubt let us pass to a certainty. We have arrived now at 
the year 1491 ; and we know this time, api^ositely, that there then com- 
menced a series of consecutive explorations, which employed, each year, 
two, three, four caravels, proceeding from the port of Bristol, to sail 
under the direction of John Cabot, the Genoese, for the discoveiy of the 
isle of Bresil, and of the Seven Cities : this is what the Spanish ambas- 
sador, Pierre d'i^ala, sends officially to his government in a despatch 
of the 25th of July, 1498, on occasion of the departure of a great expedi- 
tion confided to this Genoese. Los de Bristol ha slete annos que cada 
anno han armado dos, tres, euatro caravelas para ir a buscar la isla del 
Brasll y las Slete Cludadas, con la fantasia deste Genoves. 

At last, on the fourth voyage of this septennial series, in the month 
of .June, 1494, the search is no longer in vain : in one of the legends 
accompanying the great ellii)tical Mappe-Monde, published in 1544 by 
Sebastian Cabot, then grand pilot of Spain, the following indisputable 
declai-ation is inscribed, both in Spanish and Latin, and is pointed out 
by an express reference [in the body of the map], for what relates to 
Tierra de los Bacallaos : "This land was discovered by John Cabot a 
Venetian, and Sebastian Cabot his son, in the year of the birth of our 
Saviour Jesus Christ, M.cccc.xcmi (1494), the twenty-fourth day of 
June [at 5 o'clock] in the morning; to which land has been given 
the name of The land first seen : and to a great island, which is very 
near the said land, the name of St. John has been given, on account 
of its having been discovered the same day." 

This same date, 1494, such as we ascertain it on the very map of Sebas- 
tian Cabot, preserved at Paris in the .geographical department of the 
" Bibliotheque Imperiale," was extracted in a similar manner in 1556, 
at Oxford, in a transcript by Nathan Kochhaf (Chytrseus), and copied 
by Hakluyt in 1589, at the palace of Westminster, from another edition 
engraved by Clement Adams. A typographical error, rather than an 
ill-advised arbitrary correction, changed that date, in this same citation, 
in a later edition of Ilakluyt's collection. Tliis would not be worth 
mentioning, if I were not obliged to give notice here, that more than 



LETTER OF M. D'AVEZAC. 507 

one careless reader has inconsiderately, and without being sufficiently 
informed, taken the date thus corrupted, for that which Hakluyt had 
actually copied from the original, engraved by Adams. Nor can this 
date of 1494, which was really written, be invalidated, on the other 
hand, on the pretext, that the legend did not emanate from Sebastian 
Cabot himself. From whom then did it come? Its origin may, in my 
judgment, assuredly be traced to John Cabot, who must be supposed 
to have inscribed it in Italian ; and this explains how the different ver- 
sions which have been made of it into Latin, while they are identical 
in substance, are not precisely the same in form. As for the Spanish 
rendering, it is evidently posterior to the establishment of Sebastian 
Cabot in Spain. But of what avail is all this? The legends belong 
incontestably to the chart; for those which, on account of their length, 
are not included within the interior of the design, are plainly attached 
to it by references. And if any one could doubt for a moment, that the 
whole was the proper work of Sebastian Cabot, it would only be neces- 
sary in order to remove immediately all hesitation in this regard, that 
he should read the first lines of the Retulo del auctor, beginning thus : 
Sebastian Caboto capitan y piloto mayor de la Sacra Cesarea Catolica 
Majestad del Imperador don Carlos quinto deste nombre y Eey nuestro 
sennor, hizo estafigura extensa en piano, anno del nascimiento de nuestro 
Salvador Jesu Christo de M.D.XLIIII. annos, . . . etc. 

I assume it, then, as a fact to be hereafter uncontested, as I have 
always regarded it as incontestable, that the first discovery of Cabot 
was made the 24th of June, 1494. 

But during the period of the successive attempts of this intrepid 
navigator to find a passage to the Indies by the west, the great fact of 
the Columbian discovery had been accomplished ; and in its train had 
followed the promulgation of the papal bull, adjudging this new world 
to Spain ; and immediately after, the jjrotestation of Portugal, and the 
establishment of a line of demarcation, and finally, the treaty of Tor- 
desillas of 7th June, 1494. Accordingly, when John Cabot had, in his 
turn, discovered new countries, he was obliged to acknowledge that it 
could appertain only to a sovereign, to declare them his own, and to 
confer a beneficial domain over them on the discoverer; and he had 
recourse to Henry VII, king of England, to escape from the exclusive 
pretensions of Spain and Portugal. Perhaps after this appeal to the 
royal intervention, he had to contend against jealous influences from 
abroad ; at least it is certain, that the Castilian ambassador Ruy Gon- 
zales de Puebla, received an order from his court, to make representa- 
tions against every enterprise of this kind. {Estas cosas semejantes son 



508 LETTER OF M. D'AVEZAC. 

cosas muy ynciertas y tales que para agora no co'nviene entender en ellas, 
y tanbien mirad que a aquellas partes no se puede entender en esto, sin 
perjuycio nuestro o del Bey de Portugal.) However this may be, the 
kiug of England signed at last, at Westminster, the 5th of March, 1496, 
letters-patent to John Cabot, citizen of Venice, and his three sons, 
Louis, Sebastian, and Sancius, and their heirs, and others concerned, to 
go by sea under the royal British standard, for the discovery of un- 
known lands in the western hemisphere, and to take legal possession 
o( them in the name of the crown of England, to be enjoyed by him, 
and his sons and heirs, for their sole use and inheritance, as vassals 
and officers of the king, reserving one-fifth part of the net profits of 
all the products which should bo entered free of customs at the single 
port of Bristol. 

We must probably ascribe to the secret practices of the Castilian 
diplomacy, the delays which attended the departure of the expedition; 
which did not put to sea until the first days in the month of May, 1497, 
in a small ship manned by a crew of eighteen men, of whom one was a 
Burgundian, and one a Genoese ; but the greater part were Englishmen 
from Bristol. It had returned by the beginning of August ; for on the 
date of the 10th of this month, the king gave from his privy purse a 
gratuity of ten pounds sterling To hym that found the New Isle. Some 
days after, on the 23d of August, the Venetian merchant, Lorenzo 
Pasqualigo, sent from London to his brothers in Venice, what he had 
learned of the results of this voyage: John Cabot had found, at a dis- 
tance of seven hundred leagues in the west, a firm-land, along which he 
had coasted for the space of three hundred leagues, not having met a 
living person at the points where he had landed, but still having 
observed there some traces of inhabitants, trees notched, and nets for 
catching game: on his return, he had seen on his right hand two 
islands, where, however, he had not wished to gQ on shore on account 
of the failure of his provisions : he had returned to Bristol after a voy- 
age of three months, having left in the lands which he had discovered 
a grand cross, with the banner of England and that of St. Mark of 
Venice. 

What were these three hundred leagues of coast, thus placed under 
this two-fold British and Venetian protectorate? One might make 
' this the object of a special study, comparing carefully with the map of 
Sebastian Cabot, naturally taken here as the standard of reference, the 
;Sketch, more or less rude, of the countries upon which, in the chart of 
the celebrated Spanish pilot Juan de la Cosa, of the date 1500, there 
floats a series of significant banners, accompanied in the east by the 



LETTER OF M. D'AVEZAC. 609 

name Cdbo de Ynglatcrra, and in the west by the inscription Mar 
descubierta por Yngleses. It is, in short, in its whole extent, the same 
region which, thirty years later, was called by the Spaniards Tierra de 
Estevan Gomez. 

Without stopping to notice the enthusiastic reception which John 
Cabot received after his return, his title of Admiral, the vestments of 
silk with which ho arrayed himself, the concessions of islands with 
which he gratified certain of his companions (et intrambi se reputano 
conti, ne monsUjnor larmirante se estima manco de principe) ; without 
spealving of the magnificent promises of which he showed himself so 
prodigal ; I come at once to the preparations for a new and more con- 
sidei-able expedition, with which he immediately occupied himself. 
The king signed at Westminster, the 3d of February following (1498), 
letters-patent expressly authorizing John Cabot, or his duly appointed 
representative, to take in the ports of England six ships, the largest 
not to exceed two hundred tons burden at the most, with all their 
equipments, on the same terms and conditions as in the royal service, 
and to embark in them as many persons as should freely offer them- 
selves to go with him to the countries or islands previously discovered 
by him, in the name and by the commandment of his majesty. Anghiera 
informs us, that Cabot furnished the armament of two ships at his own 
expense (duo is sibi navigia propria pecunia in Britannia ipsa instruxit) ; 
three others were equipped by the merchants ; and from the treasury 
accounts of the king, we learn the names of the following merchants 
as thus concerned, Lancelot Thirkill, Thomas Bradley, and John Carter. 

Whatever may have been the reason which occurred at the decisive 
moment, to prevent John Cabot himself from assuming the command 
of the contemplated expedition, in virtue of the royal letters granted 
to him personally (it may be plausibly conjectured that this reason 
was his unexpected death), the clause which substituted for him even- 
tually his duly authorized representative, found in this state of things 
its eifective application ; and his son Sebastian, then, according to my 
computation, about twenty-five years old, took command, in place of 
the patentee, of the little fleet of five shii^s, carrying three hundred 
men, and provisioned for a year, which left Bristol at the commence- 
ment of summer {in the begynmjng of somer), that is to say, about the 
21st of June, with the design of colonizing the transatlantic regions 
where England had just before planted its flag, and in the hope of pen- 
etrating further, even to the region of the spices (pensa da quello loco 
occupato andarsene sempre a riva riva plu verso al levante, tanto cKel sia 
at opposito de una isola da lui chiamata Cipango posta in la regions 



510 LETTER OF M. D'AVEZAC. 

equinoziale, dove creda die nascano tutte le speciarie del mondo). A 
gale of wind struck them on their departure, and one of the ships, 
sorely shattered by the tempest, was obliged to take refuge in Ireland; 
but the others continued on their course. They arrived in sight of 
land sooner than they expected, in about 45° N. At first they followed 
the coast which sti-etched to the north, and thus arrived at about 55", 
56°, or 58° N. Thence the coast appeared to turn to the east; and 
although it was in the month of July, they encountered such masses 
of ice, that they were obliged to tack about. They cast anchor for 
repairs at the land of Bacallaos, which Cabot so named from the 
abundance of large fish, so called by the native inhabitants. Ho 
then followed the coast to the south-west, as far as the latitude of the 
Strait of Gibraltar, in a longitude nearly equal to that of the point of 
Cuba ; and from thence, finding himself short of provisions, he sailed 
directly to England. He had been expected there ever since the month 
of September; but he did not arrive until the end of October. His 
expedition was attended with little success. He had lost, it is said, 
the greater part of his men, and had been unable to discover any pas- 
sage leading to the land of the spices, as he had announced that he 
should. And accordingly, on his retui-n, he met but a cold reception, 
which left only sad recollections. 

A long silence in regard to him now intervenes. Did he prosecute 
other voyages at his own charges ? Did he engage in the expeditions 
undertaken by new mercantile Companies, to which some Portuguese 
from the Azores were admitted, and which obtained letters-patent of 
concession, first on the 19th of March, 1501 ; and again December 9th, 
1502 ? The field is open to conjecture ; but no evidence of any value 
has been hitherto produced ; and we must clear this historic chasm at 
a bound. 

There is a secondary fact belonging to the year 1.502, noted by the 
chronicler Fabian, and which Hakluyt, on his own authority^ has placed 
to the account of Cabot, and which he has finally, through inadver- 
tence (if it is not simply a typographical error), attributed to the year 
1499, namely, the presentation to the king of three savages brought 
from the new-found-land. But the error is discovered by ascending 
to its source ; where it is perceived, that the fact of carrying these 
three savages to England must be restored to the Company of 1501. 

The renown of Sebastian Cabot had not remained circumscribed 
within the British isles. The official correspondence of the ambassa- 
dors had for a long time made him known to the court of Spain. Per- 
haps he himself sought in this quarter a revenge for the indifference 



LETTER OF M. D'AVEZAC. 511 

and neglect, with which his services had been treated in England. 
When, after the death of Henry YII, his successor, having become the 
8on-in-law of Ferdinand the Catholic, had entered into the treaty of 
1511 against France, while James of Scotland embraced the opposite 
side, Cabot turned resolutely toward Spain ; and Ferdinand wrote, on 
the 13th of September 1512, to Lord Willoughby, commander-in-chief 
of the English troops which had been transported into Italy by the 
Spanish fleet, to demand of him to send to him the Venetian naviga- 
tor (who was doubtless, at this time, at his disposal) ; which was done 
without difficulty. Sebastian Cabot, having arrived in Castile, received 
there immediately by royal commission, dated at Logrouo the 20th Octo- 
ber, 1512, the rank of captain, with a salary of 50,000 maravedis, with 
Seville for his residence while waiting for orders. It was there that he 
connected himself with the celebrated councillor of the Indias, Peter 
Martyr d'Anghiera, who received him familiarly at his house, and some- 
times lodged him under his roof, and with whom he was associated at 
court iconcuHalis noster) toward the end of 1515, awaiting a royal 
decree relating to an expedition projected for the month of March of 
the next year. But Ferdinand died the 23d of January, 1516, before 
the necessary arrangements had been made for the projected expedi- 
tion; and Cabot obtained easily, without doubt, leave of absence to 
visit England, until the young successor of the deceased king should 
come to the possession of the heritage which had befallen him. 

Perhaps this celebrated navigator had already received from Henry 
"VIII. or his chancellor Cardinal Wolsey, some favorable overture. 
However this may be, the fact remains, that a long time after, in an 
epistle dedicated to the very high and .very mighty prince, his grace 
the duke of Northumberland, prefixed to an English version of an 
extract from the cosmography of Sebastian Miinster (1.553), his poore 
oratour, Richard Eden, recalls the circumstance, that in about the 
eighth year of the reign of Henry VIII. (which is to be reckoned from 
the 22d April, 1516, to the same day of 1517), that monarch had equipped 
and sent forth certain ships under the command of Sebastian Ca- 
bot, and of Sir Thomas Pert, whose want of courage was the reason that 
the expedition produced no result. Ramusio, on his part, in a letter to 
Frascatoro, forming the pi-eface to the third volume of his collection, 
"delle Navigationi et Viaggi " (1556) relates, that Sebastian Cabot had 
formerly written to him, that he had advanced to the north along the 
transatlantic coast as far as 67° 30' N., which he reached on the 12th 
of June, having the sea open before him, and firmly believing that it 
was possible to pass by that course to Cathay ; which indeed, as he 



512 LETTER OF M. D'AVEZAC. 

said, he would have done, if the opposition of tlie commander, and of 
the refractory sailors, had not forced him to return. There had been 
already ample allusion made to this abortive enterprise in a memoir 
addressed to Henry VIII., in 1527, by Robert Thorne, an English mer- 
chant established in Seville, who advocates the exploration of the 
northern routes with an ardor, which he affirms he had inherited from 
his father (the old Nicholas Thorne?), an associate of Hugh Eliot of 
Bristol, themselves also discoverers of the new lands; by whom it had 
come to be well understood, that if the sailors had been obedient, and 
had followed the designs of their pilots, the occidental Indies, from 
whence comes the gold, would have been reached. All this was made 
perfectly clear some forty years ago by your learned and sagacious 
countryman, Richard Biddle of Pittsburg, Penn., whose book on Sebas- 
tian Cabot, altogether antiquated as it is in certain parts, retains never- 
theless a considei-able value, and seems to me to give on several points, 
and especially on this, the solution to which we must adhere. 

On his return from this expedition, Cabot doubtless went back 
immediately to Spain, where he was forthwith appointed Pilot Major, 
by a royal decree dated at Valladolid the 5th of February, 1518, with 
an additional allowance of 50,000 maravedis, and 25,000 as an indem- 
nity for his expenses {ayuda de costa), receiving thus in the whole 
an annual salary of 125,000 maravedis, equivalent to about ?00 ducats. 

Nevertheless, he was again in England the next year on a leave of 
absence, where he received from Cardinal Wolsey advantageous offers 
to conduct a new expedition for discovery, in view of which the ships 
were almost ready, with 30,000 ducats appropriated for the wants of 
the enterprise. He answered, that in his position in the service of the 
king of Spain, he could not, without the king's formal pei-mission, 
accept the proposition made to him ; and as he had in mind other pur- 
poses, he took care secretly to urge his recall, and went back to resume 
in Spain the exercise of his functions. 

Here ends everything in the career of Sebastian Cabot which relates 
to the new-found-land navigations ; and whatever interest for his biog- 
rapher there may be in the remainder of a life, which was prolonged 
beyond this period for almost forty years in an incessant activity, 
North American history can no longer find in it any facts for its own 
use. Here, then, ought also to end my answer to the question which 
you have done me the honor to solicit me to examine anew. 

You perceive, then, that with the exception of some secondary 
details, with regard to which my first decisions have been rectified by 
a more extended study, I have found in the documents which, within 



LETTER OF M. D'AVEZAC. 513 

the last ten years, have been exhumed from the archives of Italy, of 
Sixain, and of England, a i)recious confirmation of what you were 
pleased to call my plausible theory. Each one of the four voyages of 
discovery, which I had discriminated in my notices of 1857 and of 1863, 
is found in fact to present some characteristic trait to distinguish it 
from the three others. And fir.st of all it is necessary to arrange them 
in two classes, the one for those performed by John Cabot, the other 
for those performed by Sebastian ; and then to notice their special dis- 
tinctions. • 

The Voijages performed by John Cabot {who had his son with him). 

The first voyage, which had been preceded by many similar attempts 
the knowledge of which is due to the researches of Mr. Bergenroth in 
the archives of Simancas, is directly attested by the unanswerable tes- 
timony of Sebastian Cabot, who pretends to nothing more, on this 
voyage, than a first sight of land, and an island situated near by, under 
the date of 24th of June, 1494. 

The second voyage, which lasted from the beginning of May to the 
beginning of August, 1497, is characterized by a navigation of three 
hundred leagues along the coast, the contemporary delineation of 
which, reproduced on the monumental chart of Juan de la Cosa, shows 
us the British standard erected on the " Cabo de Ynglaterra " (which 
must have been reached by the end of May, or at the latest on the first 
days of June, and which is nothing else than the Terra prima vista of 
the preceding voyage), and then on diverse successive points even to 
the Mar descubierta por Yngleses, on the shore of which no landing 
appears at that time to have been effected. 

Voyages performed exclusively by Sebastian Cabot. 

The third voyage has for its salient feature, the encountering of ice 
in .56° or 58° K, in the month of July 1498 ; and then, a falling back to 
the land of Bacallaos. 

And finally, the fourth voyage has for its characteristic circumstance, 
Cabot's advancing to the north, even to the latitude of 67° 30' N"., at the 
date of the 11th June, 1517, having then before him the coast running 
east-north-east. 

It is impossible for one who pays any attention whatever to these 

distinctive characters, to confound any one of these four voyages with 

either of the other three. But if one should give himself but little 

concern for a rigorous exactitude, and should think it sufficient to 

33 



514 LETTER OF M. D'AVEZAC. 

group together, in some elegant phrases, all the results obtained by a 
whole series of efforts directed to the same object, it might happen 
that, majestically coiffed with the solemn peruke of the lord high 
chancellor of England, he would make from these four successive 
voyages of father and son, only one and the same voyage, under the 
mean date of 1498, beginning with the meditations and projects of the 
father, and following each other even to the last terminus of GV 30' 
N., reached long afterward by the son. Such is the manner in which 
history is accommodated by the far-famed chancellor Bacon of Veru- 
1am ! But neither you nor I, dear sir, have had our heads covered with 
the majestic jjeruke (the French have the levity to call it sometimes by 
the name of toupet! . . .), under the shelter of which one allows himself 
such enormities.* 

Eeceive with indulgence these pages, which are more hasty than I 
could wish, and believe in the constancy of the sentiments of high and 
sincere esteem of 

Your affectionate and faithful servant, 

D'AVEZAC. 



*[Speaking of events which took place in the fourteenth year of the accession of 
Henry VII, Lord Bacon says : "Somewhat before this time there fell out a memor- 
able accident; there was one Sebastian Cabot, a Venetian dwelling in Bristol, a man 
seen and expert in cosmography and navigation. This man, seeing tlie success, and 
emulating, perhaps, the enterprise of Christopher Columbus, in that fortunate discov- 
ery toward the south-west, which liad been made by him some six years before, con- 
ceited witb himself, that lands might likewise be discovered toward the north-west. 
This Gabato, bearing the king in hand, that he would find out an island, endued with 
rich commodities, procured him to man and victual a ship at Bristol, for the discovery 
of that island ; with whom ventured also three small ships of London merchants, 
fraught with some gross and slight wares, fit for commerce with barbarous people. He 
sailed, as he affirmed at his return, and made a card thereof, very far westwards, with 
a quarter of the north, on the north side of Terra de Labrador, until be came to the 
latitude of 67° 30', finding the sea open."— Bacon's Works, Montague's Ed., vol. 3, p. 
355.— Ed.] 



I N D E 



Abaco, 449. 

Abenaki, or Aljjonquin race, 80, 91. 

Aborigines of north of Europe and 
Nortli America, .58, 59 ; called 
"Skrellings" by Scandinavians, 
G8 ; captured by Cortereal, 169, 
170; disposition of, toward Eu- 
ropeans, 2(M; resembling ''jieo- 
ple of east parts of world," 2(38 ; 
seen by Cartier, 324, 327. 

Academy of Madrid publish Ovie- 
do's work, 'Sl-y. 

Acadie, 235. 

Adam of Bremen, 80, 81, 110, 378, 
380, 494. 

Adelantado of Chicora, 395. 

Africa, 147, 148. 

Africa, Eastern, on Portuguese 
chart, 174. 

Agency of diflferent nations of Eu- 
rope in discovery of east coast of 
America, 477 ; of Northmen, 477, 
478; of English, 478-482; of Por- 

' tuguese, 482-484; of Spaniards, 
484-487; of French, 487-490; of 
Italians, 490-493 ; of Germans, 
493-496 ; of Netherlanders, 496, 
497. 

Agnese, Baptista, maps of, 292, 293, 
296, 298, 316. 

Agoncy, 416. 

Agramonte, Juan de, commission 
from Ferdinand, 193; particulars 
of commission, 194 ; remarks, 195 ; 
possibly intended for New Eng- 
land, 196; uninformed as to its 
results, 196. 

Aiayascon, 417. 

Alaminos, Antonio de, voyage of, 
161, 162, 180, 241, 404; from Vera 
Cruz to Spain, 24:3-245; chief pi- 
lot of Ponce de Leon, 244; tries 
Bahama Channel, 245 ; discoverer 
of Gulf-stream, 245. 

Alarcon, a discoverer, 360. 

Albemarle Sound, 309. 



Albert de la Pieria, commander of 
Charlesfort, 428; victim of a mu- 
tiny, 432. 

Aldabraiul, 83. 

Algonquin Indians, 90. 

AUegliany Mountains, .392, 408. 

Altamalia River, 308. 

America, discovery of proclaimed, 
81 ; name restricted to South 
America, 160, 296 ; name in gen- 
eral use, 268; coast of, 149, 416; 
new era in history of discovery 
of, 474. 

America, North, configuration of 
continent, 32, 33 ; soutliern coast- 
line, 32; northern, 32, 33; west 
coast, 33 ; east, 33 ; Terra de Cuba, 
on Schoner's map, 161 ; on Portu- 
guese chart, No. 10, 180 ; on map 
of Agnese, 294 ; pronounced a 
continent by S. Cabot, 179; de- 
picted as such by Cosa, 179 ; 
name little used by Spanish au- 
thors, 243; mentioned, 145, 146, 
296, 297, 298, 313, 366, 409, 428. 

America, east coast of, 58, 300, 301, 
317, 413, 421. 

America, north-east coast of, 302. 

America, South, Terra Sauctaj Cru- 
cis, 156 ; island on Schoner's map, 
160 ; called Terra Nova, Brasilia, 
Papagalli, 160 ; attention attract- 
ed to, 341 ; on Cabot's maps, 360. 

Anaford, Anafiord, Ilaneliord, 102. 

Andefiord, Andoford, 101. 

Anderson's colonial cliurch, 186, 
note. 

Augos, father and son, 201. 

Angoulesme, Passamaquoddy Bay, 
231, 234. 

Anian Strait, 114. 

Anticosti, 315, 327, 328, 331, 345. 

Antilia, 125, 148. 

Antilles, 237, 402, 424, 436, 441, 443, 
458. 

Antipodes, countiy of the, 181. 



516 



INDEX. 



Antiqiiitates Americana3, C. C. 
Rafn, 57, note. 

Apalache Mountains, 408, 438, 459. 

Apalatsi, or Pilassi Mountains, 4o8. 

Apalclien, 392. 

Apostogon, Higlilands of, 303. 

Appendao-es to Cliap. II, 107-110; 
Cliap. iV, 147-103; Cliap. V, 174- 
182 ; Ohap. VI, 226-235 ; Cliap. 
Yin, 290-319; Cliap. IX, 248-393. 

Arabs, acquainted with islands of 
Indian Archipelago, 149. 

Arambec (Xorumbega), 283. 

Arcipel de Estienne Gomez, 353. 

Archipelago of Gomez, .35, 305. 300, 

Archipelago, Northern, 311. [391. 

Archipelago de la Tramontana, or 
Septentrional, 35, 311, 312. 

Archipelago of 7,448 islands, 296. 

Archipelago, West Indian, 404. 

Ai-cipelago, 367. 

Arciel de Estevan Gomenz, 391. 

Arecifes, 304. 

Aredonda, Island of, 348, 386. 

Arias, Gomez, 410. 

Asher, lite of H. Hudson, 145, 376, 
377, 379, 388, 404. 

Ashehurst, T., 184. 

Asia, 297; northern, 145; eastern 
coast of, 149. 

Assumption Island, 331. 

Atabalipa, Indian chief, ?A1, 407. 

Atinas of Dieppe, 443, 445. 

Atlas Montes, 148. 

Aubert, navigator of Dieppe, first 
brings to France aborigines from 
Canada, 203, 320. 

Auorobagra (Norumbega?), 353. 

Aveiro, 188. 

Ayala, Don Pedro, letter from, 1498, 
125, 153, 192, 372. 

Ayllon, voyage of, 161, 162, 180, 
224, 287, 303, 309; expedition of, 
24.5-248; expedition to Chicora, 
394-401 ; representation of coun- 
try, 394; agreement with govern- 
ment, 394 ; title and plan of en- 
terprise, 395 ; delay, 395; sails 
with large armament, 396 ; mis- 
fortunes, 396, 397 ; discovery and 
examination of coast, 397, 398; 
Ribero's chart, 398 ; Ayllon dies, 
401 ; dissension and revolt, 401 ; 
remnant return to S. Domingo, 
401 ; mentioned, 253, 272, 274, 402, 
404,412,414,459. 

Azores, 116, 119, 144, 147, 148, 177, 
386, 424, 441. 



Bacallaos, 181, 200, 204 ; fishing 
vessels there, 285; mentioned, 
403, 410, 411, 416, 420. 

Bacalhas, origin of word, 189. 

Baccalhao, island of, 179. 

Baccalauras, 158; Baccalhaos, 165. 

Bacon, Lord, 184. 

Badajos, council at, 273; junta of, 
299. 

Baffin's Bay, 33. 

Baggesen, referred to, 100. 

Bahama Banks, 444, 458. 

Bahama Channel, 404, 464. 

Bahia de la Ensenada (Bay of the 
Inlet), 38, 313. 

Bahia honda, 37 ; fonda, 38. 

Bahia de San Christobal (St. Chris- 
topher's Bay), 310. 

Baia de malvas, 388. 

Baia dus medaus, 388. 

Baia de St. Maria, St. Marie, St. 
Mary's Bay (Chesapeake), 303, 
306, 307, 352, 358, 383, 392, 399, 
400, 401, 459, 460. 

Baia das Rojas, 349. 

Bancroft, concerning Cabot, 359 
note, 370. 

Banks, fishing, 39, 40. See New- 
foundland. 

Barbie du Bocage, French geogra- 
pher, 355, SoQ, 357. 

Barcia, referred to, 243, 246, 309, 
396, 410, 469, 473. 

Barlow, 405. 

Barre, commander at Port Royal, 
432. 

Basques, 41, 280, 301, 412. 

Batatas (sweet potatoes), first men- 
tioned, 248, note. 

Battle, first, between Europeans 
and Americans, ()S. 

Baxos do medo, 176. 

Bays, description of, 53. 

Bay, Cape Cod, 108, 141. 

Bay of Fundy, 38, 41, 231, 303, 304, 
315, 217, ;558, 367, 381, 384, 390. 

Bay of Halifax, 303. 

Bay of New York, 306. 

Bay of St. Jolian, or S. Juan Bap- 
tista, 311, 314, 353,3(58. 

Bay of St. Lawrence, 330. 

Baya Pequeiia, 367. 

Baya del Loreme, 365. 

Baya de S. Maria (Saco or Casco 
Bay), 367. 

Baya de S. Cyria (Trinity Bay), 175. 

Baye des Barques, 326. 

Baye des Chaleurs, 327,345, 350, 380. 



INDEX. 



517 



Baye Fran(;'oise, La, 38, 383. 

B. de S. Antonio, 300, 317. 

B. de S. Christoval, 30G, 367, 368. 

B. de St. Jago, 383. 

B. de S. Juan, 358. 

Beaufort, 427. 

Behaim, map of, 124, 12.5, 140, 147, 
148, l.')0 ; constructs his globe, 
147, 239. 

Behring Strait, 32, 33, 57. 

Benaventura, Italian monk, 1.5G. 

Bergen. Pergen, 99, 111. 

Bergi, 149. 

Bermuda, discovery of, 405, 411. 

Bermudas, projected settlement of, 
400; on map of Kibero,407; men- 
tioned, 238, 301, 380, 424, 450. 

Bermudez, Juan, 405. 

Beu Sablom (Sable Bay), 381,382, 
384. 

Biarmaland, 88, 107. 

Biarmia, 80. 

Biarne, Grimolf 's son, 70, 114. 

Biarne, Heriulf 's son, discoverer of 
New England, 02, 03; result of 
expedition, 03, 04. 

Biddle's memoir of Cabot, referred 
to, 128, 134, 152, 107, 184, 185, 207, 
212, 214, 215, 217, 219, 220, 282, 284, 
304 ; memoranda brought to light 
by, 180; his theory on Cabot's 
voyage of, 1517, 208. 

Bimini. 240, 243. 

Bird Kocks, 325. 

Biscay, mariners and fishermen of, 
279, 280, 281. 

Bremen, bishopric of, 80 ; Adam of, 
80,81,110,378,380. 

Bliss, P. C, 234, note. 

Block Island, 2.59, 200, 201. 

Blunt, Coast Pilot, referred to, 178, 
257, 303. 

Bobadilla, Isabella de, wife of De 
Soto, 409. 

Bonne viste, 230. 

Bourdet, 439, 447, 448. 

Bradley, Thomas, 180. 

Brattalid, 01. 

Brasil, island of, 12.5, 301. 

Brazil, Protestant colony in, 415, 
422 ; 174, 415. 

Brest, 324, 325. 

Breusing, life of Mercator, -385. 

Brier Island, 41, 381. 

Brion's Island, 326. 

Bristol, 112, 113, 116, 303 ; Vene- 
tians resident there, 122; voyages 
from to the west, 125. 



Brittany, pilots of, 190 ; fishermen 
of, 200 ; pretensions of, 279. 

Broad liiver, 427. 

Brother Louis, island named for, 
175. 

Bry, Theodore de, 435. 

Busi, the. 378. 

Buzzard's Bay, 72. 

Bylot, 220. 

Byron Island, 325. 

Caballero, Diego, 240, iM. 

Cabo de Arecifes (Cape of Keefs), 
49, 311,314. 319, :!f,7,:!S3. 

Cabo de Ai-enns, 295, 305, 306, 307, 
310,313, 314, 310, 318, 319, 352, S68, 
368,383,391,392,399. 

Cabo de las Arenas, 317, 318. 

C. de Boa Ventura, 102, 178. 

Cabo de Canaveral, 241, 308, 449. 

Cabo delli contis, 102. 

Cabo de Concepicion, 175. 

Cabo de Corrientes, 242, 308. 

C. Deserto, 383. 

Cabo del gado del mare, 365. 

Cabo de Gamas (Deer Cape), -365. 

Cabo Glaciato, 158. 

Cabo Gruesso, 308. 

Cabo de lagus islas, 391. 

Cabo da lexus, 390. 

C. de muchas yslas, 304, 312, 310, 
307,383,391,417. 

Cabo des Sablons (Cape Cod), 3.52, 
353. 

Cabo de San Antonio (C. Bona Vis- 
ta), 175. 

Cabo Sancto, 102. 

Cabo de Sta. Cruz, 308. 

Cabo de Sta. Elena, Helena, or Elle- 
na, 308, 309, 352, 383, 398. 

Cabo de San Johan, 309, 310. 

Cabo de Sta. Maria (Cape Ann), 
311, 312, 310. 

C. de S. Maria, on map of Terra 
Nueva, 234. 

Cabo de S. Paulo, 175. 

Cabo de Sautjago (St. James' Cape), 
310, 314. 

Cabo Trafalgar (C. Hatteras, or 
Lookout), 308, 309. 

Cabo Verde, 148. 

C. da Volta (C. Ray), 349. 

Caboto, Giovanni, 122, 123. 

Cabots, the, expeditions of, 84, 152 
284. 

Cabots, John and Sebastian, voy- 
ages of, 121-140 ; plan for north- 
west passage, 123 ; and gx'eal cir- 



il8 



INDEX. 



cle, 123,124; preliminary voyage, 
125, 12(5 ; petition King Henry, 
120; patent granted, 127; little 
known of their voyages, l.'U ; 
probabilities, l:]2; first land-fall, 
132, 133, 134 ; uncertainties as to 
voyage, 135; returns to Bristol, 
135. 

Cabot, John, 125, 126; patent to 
himself and sons, 127, 128 ; anoth- 
er, 128, 180 ; discoverer of North 
Ameriwci, 128 ; mentioned, 129, 
149. 

Cabot, Lewis, 127 ; Sancius, 127. 

Cabot, Sebastian, 123, 127; map at- 
tributed to, 126 ; inscription, 133 ; 
sails from Bristol, 136 ; northern 
latitude reached, 137, 138 ; first 
fisherman on banks of New- 
foundland, 139 ; i)roceeds south- 
west, 139 ; lands, 142 ; captures 
Indians, 142; southern extent of 
voyage, 143 ; homeward track, 
144 ; supposed discovery of parts 
of Asia, 144 ; scientific results, 
145 ; proposal for another expedi- 
tion, 145 ; contemplates another 
exijedition, 197; another possi- 
ble voyage, 200 ; theory of Mr. 
Biddle as to, 208; suppositions 
and difficulties in regard to, 209- 
224; small encouragement from 
Henry VII. and Henry VIII, 
214; goes to Spain, 221; pilot 
major, 213, 222 ; no proof of leav- 
ing Spain in 1516 or 1517, 223; 
note by editor on arguments of 
Mr. Biddle and Dr. Kohl, 224, 
225 ; map and voyage attributed 
to him, 358-377 ; ne plus ultra of 
voyage, 364; map not valuable 
for illustration of Cabot's voy- 
age, 366; inscriptions, 368, 3()9, 
370 ; fables, 370 ; variation of mag- 
netic needle, 370; date of map, 
371 ; another map, 371 ; worth- 
lessness, 371 ; mentioned, 146, 
147, 149, 183, 184, 244, 295, 305. 

Cabral, Pedro Alvarez, 104, 174. 

Cabrillo, expedition to California, 
227, 360. 

Cacomedas, 367. 

California, 33, 291, 294, 360, 403. 

(Jamden Hills, 417. 

('amelo Hernando, governor of 
Bermudas, 40(). 

Canada, 297; French expeditions 
to, 320-337; expedition to, 340- 



347; chart of, 351-3-54, name, 354; 
mentioned, 3S)3, 416, 417. 

Canary Islands, 115, 119, 424, 436, 
441, 458. 

Cano, Sebastian del, 271. 

Capes, 47. 

Cape Anguille, 325. 

Cape Ann, .50, 311. 

Cape Antonio, 464. 

Cape Blanc, 300. 

Cape de Bertoens (C. of the Bre- 
tons), 380. 

Cape do Bretan, ;349. 

Cape Breton, on Eeinel's chart, 
179; once claimed by Portugal, 
179; name given by French, 201 ; 
Estotiland on chart of Zeni, 105 ; 
voyage of Master Hore to, 337- 
340; mentioned, 274, 283, 302,313, 
325, 348, 349, 353, 358, 366, 371,373, 
375, 422, 431, 475. 

C. de Boavista, 349. 

Cape Buonavista, 323. 

Cape Charles, 400. 

Cape Cod, ;54, 35, 44 ; description of, 
49; Cabo de Arecifes, 49; other 
names, 50; seen by Biarne, 63; 
by Leif, 04; by Thorwald, 67; 
mentioned, 68, 69, 71, 72, 91, 109, 
141, 1.54; Central between Cape 
Race and Florida, 155 ; mention- 
ed, 265, 295, 305, 306, 310, 311, 314, 
315, 316, 318, 319, 352, 358, 366, 308 

383, 384, 393. 
C. de Croix, 358. 

Cap Double (Pt. Rich), .325. 
Cape Elizabeth, 30 ; description of, 
.50, 51 ; mentioned, 304, 312, 316, 

384, note. 

Cape of England, 366. 

Cape Farewell, 387. 

Cape Fear, 252, 202, 308; river, 397. 

Cape Florida, 33, 143, 444. 

Cape Franvois, 425, 436, 449. 

C. Frey Luis, 349. 

Cape of Good Hope, 294. 

Cape Hatteras, 34, 143, 144, 180, 255, 

308, 309. 
Cape Henlopen, 306, 310, 314, 319, 

353, 383. 
Cape Henry, 400. 
Cape Hondo, 315. See C. Sable. 
Cape of Hope, 326. 
C. des isles, 353. 
Cape of the Islets, 417. 
Cape Lookout, 252, 308. 
Cape Madabeda, 3()7. 
Cape Malebarre, 300. 



INDEX. 



519 



Cap d'Orleans. 320. 

C. de Piloto, :m. 

Cape Race, ;J3, 158. " C. de Poito- 
ge.si," 158; 275, 302, 337, 389. 

Cape Kasso, 349. 

Cape de Kax, 350. 

Cape Komain, 252, 253, 250. 

Cape Sable, 30, 37 ; description of, 
51; name given, ,52; seen by 
Cabot, 141; Cape Hondo, 315; 
mentioned, 03, 230, 3 )4, 381, 382, 
3S4, 390; Sablom, 352, 353. 

Cai)e S. Antonio, 444. 

Cap de St. Alovise (east point), 
328. 

C. de Christolphe, .353. 

Cape de St. Jean (St. John's Cape), 
325. 

C. Sta. Marie, .358. 

Cape of St. Mary, 317, 318. 

Cape de St. Paul, 3.58. 

C. de St. Roman (Cape Romain), 
309, 352, 383, 399, 429. 

Cap Tiennot, or Tiuno (C Mont- 
joli), 329.. 

C. da Tormenta, 349. 

C. Traftalgar, 399. 

Cape da Volta (Ray), 349. 

Cape of Vinland, 108, 109. 

C. '♦ XI virges," 349. 

Capitana, La, ship of de Ayllon, 
397. 

Capo del gato, 102. 

Caribbean Iskiuds, 242; Sea, 441, 
443, 404. 

Carolina, 254, 407, 432. 

Caroline, La, fort built by Laudon- 
nicre, 437, 450. 

Cartier, Jacques, 228, 294, 298, 313, 
315, 310 ; first voyage, 320-329 ; 
birth and childhood, 322 ; pro- 
poses a voyage, 323; sails and 
arrives at Newfoundland, 323; 
continuation of voyage, 324-327; 
first navimitor on coast of New- 
foundland, 325; returns, 328; de- 
sire to find passage to west, 328 ; 
new commission, 329 ; second 
voyage, 329-337 ; arrives on east 
coast of Newfoundland, 330; at 
the St. Lawrence, 332 ; near pres- 
ent Quebec, 332 ; ascends St. 
Lawrence, 333 ; discovers and de- 
signates Quebec, Montreal, and 
St. Peter's Lake, 334 ; winter, 334 ; 
friendly Indians, 334; "way to 
Florida," 335 ; reports of Indians, 
335 ; seizure of Indians, 330 ; re- 



turns, 330 ; shorter route, 330; 
first to circumnavigate New- 
foundland, 337. 

Cartier, Jacques, expedition to 
(Canada, 340-347 ; rei)ort to king, 
340; letters-patent, ;U1 ; commis- 
sion, .'542; arrives at Holy Cross, 
342; builds fort, 342 ; explora- 
tions, 343 ; passes winter and re- 
turns to France, ;'>43 ; goes to suc- 
cor of Roberval's expedition, 344 ; 
assistance rendered as i^plorer, 
344, 345 ; forgotten, 345; best 
draft to ilhistratc his voyages, 
3S0; mentioned, 338, 349, 350, 305, 
374, 379, 390, 392, 407, 409, 414, 427. 

Casco Bay, 54, 304, 312, 358, 307; 
islands in, 52, 305. 

Castillo, chart by, 300. 

Cataia, 295, 298. 

Cataio, 380. 

Cathay, route to, 145 ; Cathaia on 
map of Rehaini, 149 ; name of 
nortliern(Jliina, 150; Kathay, 123, 
124, 125, 12(), 128; mentioned, 131, 
144, 250, 255, 277, 295, 297, 298, 374, 
474. 

Catherine la Reine, 449. 

Cattegat, on chart of Zeni, 99. 

Cautio, 240, 243. 

Cavo liescubierto, 154. 

Cavo da Espera (Cape Speer), 179. 

Cavo de Es[)eranza, 230. 

Cavo de Lisarte, 154. 

Cavo Raso (C. Race), 178, 301, 349. 

Cavo do S. Jorge, 1-54. 

Cavo de Ynglaterra (C. of England), 
153, 154. 

Ceira, 349. 

Chabot, Philippe de, 323. 

Challeux, 475. 

Chan (Khan), country of the Great, 
130, 285, 370. 

Charles V. promotes Cabot, 212; 
supposed invitation from, 222; 
appoints commission to prepare 
maps, etc., 299, 300 ; to examine 
and correct, 307, 359, 300. 

Charlesfort, 427. 

Charlevoix, referred to, 201, 202; 
cliart of Canada and east coast 
of United States, 351-354; names 
on chart, 352, 353 ; important fea- 
ture, 353; coast of Maine, 3.54. 

Cliarts of Cartier and Roberval, 389. 

Cliart by Alonzo de Chaves, 307- 
315. 

Chart of Gastaldi, 321. 



520 



INDEX, 



Chart for Gomez, 299-319. 

Chart by Diego Homem, 377-384; 
atlas by, 378; Greenland, 378; 
entrance to Davis' and Hudson's 
Straits, 379 ; names on chart, 379 ; 
islands, 379; straits, 380; mare 
leparamantium, 380; peninsula, 
380; names annexed, 381 ; bay of 
Fundy, 381; Nova Scotia, 381; 
Cape Sable, 382 ; names on coast, 
382 ; Florida, 383 ; results of ex- 
amination, 384. 

Chart containing Mercator's Pro- 
jection, 385, 386. 

Chart of east coast of North Amer- 
ica, by Mercator, 384-393 ; islands, 
38(5; copies chart of Zeni, 38(5, 
387; best portion of work, 388; 
Portuguese names for Terra Cor- 
terealis, 388 ; suggestion of Ash- 
er, 388, 389 ; Homem's map, 389 ; 
charts ol Cartier and Roberval, 
389 ; Latin inscriptions, 390 ; lake, 
390 ; Nova Scotia and New Eng- 
land, 390; names on coast of 
United States, 390; first to delin- 
eate Alleghany Mountains, 392; 
numerous followers and copyists, 
392. ^^ ' 

Charts of Northmen, 107-110; com- 
mon features, 107. 

Chart, Portuguese, No. 8, of coast 
of Newfoundland, Labrador, and 
Gi-eenland, 174-177. 

Chart, Portuguese, No. 10, of Flor- 
ida, Nova Scotia, Newfoundland, 
Labrador, and Greenland, 179- 
182; original discovered at Mu- 
nich, 180 ; date inferred, 180 ; dis- 
coveries of the Cortereals depict- 
ed, ISO; inscriptions, 181; line 
of demarcation, 181 ; latitude and 
longitude, 181. 

Chart, by Johann Ruysch, of new 
world, 15G-158, 100. 

Chart of Gulf of St. Lawrence, 321. 

Charts made in Spain, 300, 301. 

Chart from atlas of Nicholas Val- 
larcl de Dieppe, 354-358; names 
on chart, 350, 357, 308 ; by whom 
made, 357 ; principal objects on 
chart, 357. 

Chart from Verrazano, 290-299. 

Chart by Caspar Viegas, 348-351. 

Chart of Zeni, 97-100, 386, 387. 

Charlesbourg Royal, 343. 

Chaves, Alonzo de, 315, 316, 318, 
319, 361, 383. 



Checatica Bay, .325. 

Chesapeake Bay, 303, .300, 309, 310, 
392, 400, 401, 402, 411, 408, 469. 

Chicora (coast of Carolina), 245, 
247, 248, 272, 288, 289, 394, 395, 396. 

Chicora, Francisco, 248. 

Chicora, river of, 286, 287. 

Chignecto Bay, 382. 

ChiU, 360. 

China, 124, 140, 274, 295, 296, 298. 

Christian I. sends exploring expe- 
dition, 114. 

ChytrsBus (Nathaniel Kochhaf), 
3()3, 308. 

Cibola, country of, 426. 

Cipangu (.Japan), 149. See Zipangu. 

Claudia Island, 259, 291, 352, 391. 

Clayton, Ga., 408. 

Coburg-Gotha, Archives of Duke 
of, 316. 

Cod-fish. 40, 41. 

Cogswell, letter of Verrazano, 269, 
270, notes. 

Colfo nordero, on chart of Zeni, 100. 

Coligny, Admiral, 415; expedition 
sent out by, 421, 422, 427, 428, 430 ; 
plan for relief of colony, 4.34; 
Laudonniere's report to, 447 ; or- 
ders in regard to Spaniards, 4.50, 
467. 

C. Colombo, Fernando, referred to,^ 
117, note. 

Colon, Diego, 307. 

Colon, Hernando, 299, 302. 

Columbus, Bartholomew, 121, 124. 
125, 140, 376. 

Columbus, Christopher, 120, 121, 
123, 147, 148, 149, 150, 181, 376; 
preparatory voyages mentioned, 
115, 116; first time in American 
waters, 117; in Iceland, 117; 
Humboldt's o]>inion, 118; Finn 
Magnusen's, 119; information in 
Iceland, 119; gives an impulse to 
discovery, 121 ; first voyage, 237 ; 
attention to southern regions of 
America, 238; second voyage, 
239; charts lost, 239; other clls- 
coveries known to him, 239. 

Commission to Gilbert and Ra- 
leigh, 474. 

Conception Bay, 168, 175. 

Conclusion and recapitulation, 477- 
497. 

Contarine, 123, note. 

Continents, description of, 57. 

Cordova, 244. 

Coronado, 426. 



INDEX 



521 



Cortereal, Gaspar, 105 ; first voyage, 
166; second, 16l», 379; governed 
by Cabot's map, 166, 167; land- 
fall, 167; return and arrange- 
ments for second voyage, 168; 
second land-fall, 169; seizure of 
aborigines, 169; fate unknown. 
170; report of commander and 
sailoi-s of second vessel, 170 ; new 
light thrown on these voyages 
by Dr. Kohl, 170, note. 

Cortereal. John Vaz. 165, 166. 

Coi'tereal, Miguel, voyage in search 
of his brother, 171. 

Cortereals, the, 84 ; expeditions to 
America, 164-178, 174, 183, 274, 
379 ; expeditions in search of, 172. 

Cortereal, Vasqueanes, 166, 172. 

Corterati, 297. 

Cortes, 244, 272, 273, 294, 402 ; letter 
to emperor, 403, 411, 412, 460. 

Cosa, Juan de la, Spanish naviga- 
tor, 151 ; map of east coast, 146, 
151-155, 161, 177, 179, 218, 239, 244, 
295, 303, 3()6, 377. 

Cesen d'mar, 162. 

Costacha, 350. 

Coste R. ontra, 353. 

Cotifachique, 414. 

Country of the antipodes, 181. 

Crignon, 228. 231. 

Cuba, on Ruysch's chart, 157 ; on 
Schoner's, 161 ; supposed a part 
of Asia, 239 ; mentioned, 143, 144, 
240, 243, 275, 277, 296, 409, 460, 464. 

Cumberland Island, 3t)4; Sound, 
464. 

Currents, 41, 42. 

D'Avezac, referred to, 148, 348, 385. 

Davis' Strait, 33. 176, 178, 302, 338, 
356, 364, 365, 392. 

Deane, Charles, referred to, 359, 
362, note, 370. 

De Bry, referred to, 279, note. 

Dee, John, map by, 392. 

De Lact, 472. 

Delaware (Peninsula of), 309, 310, 
383. 

Del Principe river, 392. 

De Monts, 49, 305, 317, 383, 393. 

Denys, Jean, French navigator, 201, 
202; chart of Gulf of St. Law- 
rence, 202, 229, 320, 381. 

De Puebla, 192. 

Desertum Busor, 378, 380. 

De Soto, Fernando, 294, 392; expe- 
dition of, 403 ; discoveries and 
34 



schemes, 407, 408 ; dies, 408; re- 
port, 409; expedition sent in 
search of him, 409, 410; Maldon- 
ado's search of, 410, 412, 414. 

Detroite de St. Pierre (St. Peter's 
Channel), 328. 

Diaz, Bernal, 245. 

Dieppe, 201. 

Divers voyages, ITaklnyt, 291. 

Do Bretan, island of, 348. 

Doltinato, NicoUo del. map by, 317. 

Don Marti, costa de, 367. 

Don, Nicolaus, letter to the em- 
peror, 197; license granted, 198; 
country to which he was di'iven, 
198. 

Donnacona, Indian chief, 332, 335, 
336, 341 ; dies in France, 342. 

Dornelos, Juan, 193. 

Doria, Theodosio, 93. 

Drogeo, 95, 105, 387, 388, 392. 

Drogeo, expedition to, 104; inhab- 
itants, 104; New England, 105, 
106; Droceo on chart ol' Zeni, 104. 

Dumbshaf, 107. 

East Point, 328. 

Eden referred to, 123 note, 206, 216, 
224. 

Edinburgh Encyclopedia, quoted, 
36. 

Eldorado, 426. 

Elliot, 186. 

Emanuel, the Great, 164, 165 ; expe- 
ditions fitted out by, 165 ; refuses 
permission to Vasqueanes Cor- 
tereal, 172 ; chart made for him, 
174 ; a new slave coast, 187. 

Emperada, 292. 

England, 113 ; commerce to Ice- 
land, 113, 119 ; intercourse be- 
tween newly-discovered regions 
and, 186 ; receives first news 
from Florida, 434, 454. 

English men-of-war, 113; twenty- 
five English vessels destroyed, 
113, 114; claims and possessions 
in North America, 146; first to 
discover North America, 146; 
fisheries in sixteenth centuiy, 
187; first on these shores, 283; 
ship in harbor of San Juan, 285; 
sails to San Domingo, 286 ; expe- 
dition resembling Rut's, 286: in- 
terest of government excited in 
America, 434, 475. 

Engroenelandt, 104. 

Engronelandt, 102. 



522 



INDEX. 



Eusenada, Bahia de la, 38. 

Enterprises of Menendez and Mar- 
quez kept in obscurity by Span- 
ish policy. 472, 47o. 

Eric tlie Red, G1,G2; sons of, 82. 

Eric's Fiord, til, 70. 

Erik, bishop of Greenland, voyage 
of, 83. 

Erik, the Priesthater, 83. 

Espa»ola (St. Domingo), 124, 160, 
Kil. 

Esquimaux, 58, 85; Skrellings, 89- 
91 ; maps by, 103 ; mentioned, 
133, 379. 

Estancelin referred to, 93, 200, 205, 
notes. 

Estevanez Juan, island of, 348. 

Estland (Shetland), 100. 

Estotiland, Estotilant (East Out- 
land), 95; vessel driven to, 104; 
on chart of Zeni, 104-100 ; on 
chart of Northmen, 110, 114, 387 ; 
Estotilandia, 110. 

Europe, 88. 

European navigators, first voyage 
along coast of Maine, 71. 

European settlement, first on coast 
of Maine, 55. 

Exi^editions, influence exerted by 
various, upon discovery and set- 
tlement of Maine, 474, 475, 470. 

Expedition of two English ships, 
281, 289. 

Expeditions to Canada, French, 
329-337 ; first official exploring, 
322. 

Expedition to Chicora, by Ayllon, 
394-401,421. 

Expeditions of De Soto, Maldona- 
do, and Arias, 402-412. 

Expeditions, English trading, 111- 
114; to Virginia, 413. 

Expeditions, exploring, from Bris- 
tol, 372. 

Expeditions of French to Florida, 
434-44 ), 447, 455. 

Expedition of Dominique de Gour- 
gues to Florida, 462-407. 

Expeditions undertaken by Isa- 
bella de Bobadilla, 409. 

E.xpeditions of Menendez on coast 
of Florida, 455-461 ; sent by Me- 
nendez under Pardo, 460. 

Expedition under Ribault and 
Laudonniere to Florida, 413-476. 

Expedition, first exploi'ing, of Jean 
Kibault, 421-431. 

Expeditions, Spanish, along coast 



of Florida, 1594-412 ; from Mexico 

to the North, 426. 
Expeditions, examination of early 

Spanish, 411,412. 
Expedition, searching for De Soto, 

172 ; for the Cortereals, 173. 
Expeditions, various, 402. 
Expeditions to Vinlaiid, subse- 
quent to Thorfinn Karlsefne, 82- 

85. 
Explorations on coast of United 

States, Spanish and French, 471. 
Exploration, scheme of Cortes, 403. 
Eyolfson, Magnus, 117. 

Fabulous stories, 149; nations, 378. 

Fabyan, Robert, 142. 

Faeroer, Faereyjar, Fareysland, or 
Ferrisland, shortened to Frees- 
land, or F'risland, 100. 

Farewell, Cape, 62. 

Faroe, 58, 94, 100-102, 107, 236, 387, 
392. 

Features, physical, 31. 

Fernandus, J. and F., 184. 

Fimboge, 77, 78. [280. 

P^ishermen of Europe in our waters, 

Fishermen, French, 35, 324 ; indem- 
nified by Henry VIII, 339; con- 
•se(iuences of expeditions, 347 ; 
interest of, 430. 

Fishermen of Guypuzcoa, 280. 

Fishermen.Portuguese and French, 
3S2 ; Spanish, 470. 

Fishing banks, 39; interest, 321, 
340, 430. 

Five Nations, 335. 

Flogascer, foglaster, corresponding 
to fuglasker, 102. 

Flora, 230. 

Florida, 33; Sparke's description 
of, 446; coast of, 420, 444; de- 
struction of Protestant colony, 
453 ; expedition of Menendez to, 
455-4(!l ; of Gourgues, 462-467; 
extent of, 460, note ; Pascua, 241 ; 
Spanish survey of east coast, 
467-474; Spanish province, 470; 
France relinquishes pretensions 
to, 467; Spanish interests in, de- 
cline, 473; extent of, 489. 

Florida, La, 2;M, 241, 243, 274, 276, 
277, 297. 307, 308, 352, 363, 380, 383, 
402, 403, 407, 416, 422, 467. 

Florida, Cape, 468; great river of 
(Miss.), 408; Gulf and Peninsula 
of, on Schoner's map, 161 ; Keys, 
437 ; Strait of, 444. 



INDEX. 



523 



Floride Franoaise, La, 436 ; French 
Florida, 44S. 

Foglasker, 8S7. See Flo^ascer. 

Fogs, 44. 

Fonseca, 151. 

Fort, Scaiulinavian termination, as 
incafort, onlefnrt, olofort, 100. 

Fortune liay, ;U9. 

Foscarini, {)o, note. [417. 

Fox Channel, 219, 220, 864 ; islands, 

Franoaise, La Baye, 3S. 

Francisca (Canada), 296, 297. 

Frascatoro, 22(), 229, 2o2. 

France Koy, station of Roberval, 
34;5, ;J44. 

Francis I. of France, 201, 249, 250, 
270, 295, 32;}, 341, 344, 345, 351. 

French explorers, 414, 487. 

French fort on Penobscot Bay, 419. 

French names supersede Spanish, 
354. 

French settlement at Port Royal, 
fate of, 432-434; sufferings, dis- 
content, and discord, 432; build 
vessel and sail for France, 433; 
rescued by English bark, 433; 
arrive in England, 434 ; interest 
excited, 434. 

Fi-ench Protestant sailors in Eng- 
lish service, 433; French ships 
and sailors, 443; sailor escapes 
from Spanish slavery in Florida, 
455. 

French voyages after Cabot and 
Cortereal, 199-205; French prom- 
inent in colonization of Maine, 
199, C05; date of first voyages, 
201 ; give name to Cape Breton, 
201; power of merchants, 201, 
note ; names of new countries, 
204; enterprise of, 205; French 
captains as discoverers in new 
world, 228. 
Freydisa, 71, 77, 78. 
Frisius, Gemma, .385. 
Friesland (Faroe), 94, 95, 109. 
^ Frisland, on chart of Zeni, 100-102, 
104; on chart of Northmen, 109, 
110, 114; Frislant, 387. 
Frislanda (Iceland), 1.52. 
Frobisher, 290; discovei'ies of, on 

Lok's map, 292. 
Frobisher's Strait, 291. 
Fuego, Tierra del, 48. 
Furdustrandr, 72, 74. 

Gabote (Cabot), John and Sebas- 
tian, 131, note. 



Galvano, referred to, 138, 206, 275, 
278. 

Garay, Francisco de, 402. 

Gar<,a, La (Bermuda), 406. 

Gardar, a Dane, 61. 

Gaspc Bay, 327. 

Gasppsie, La, 327. 

Gastaldi, Jacomo di, map by, 226, 
233, 234. 

Genoese, intercourse with north of 
EuroiJe, 93. 

Georgia, Gulf of, 34. 

Georgia and Carolina, theatre of 
first Pi'otestant colony^ and of 
first attempt of Jesuits, 468. 

George's Banks, 352. 

Germans, agency of, 493-496. 

Ghillany, 147, 151, notes, 159. 

Gilbert, Sir Humphrey, referred to, 
191, 217, 218, 302, 34(), 405, 413, 470. 

Ginnungagap (Davis Strait), 107, 
108. See Gunningagap. 

Globe of Martin Behaim, 148, 1.59. 

Goat Island, near Newport, 262. 

Golfam de Meiosro, 388. 

Golfe des chateaux ( Strait of Belle 
Isle), 324, 326. 

Golfo, 303, 304. 

Golfo de Castelli, 230. 

Golfo Quadrato (Gulf of St. Law- 
rence), 34, 202, 320. 

Gomara, referred to, 114, 137, 187, 
217, 218, 247, 274, 299, 314, 330, 361, 
398, 404, 472. 

Gomez, Estevan, friend of Sebas- 
tian Cabot, 223; expedition of, 
271-281 : receives title of piloto, 
271 ; report of strait discovered 
by Magellan, 272 ; council at Ba- 
dajos, 273; sails, 273; no report 
preserved, 274 ; in search of pas- 
sage to China, 274 ; in communi- 
cation with Sebastian Cabot, 275 ; 
uncertainty as to voyage, 276; 
Indians brought home, 277; 
Herrera's statement, 277; direc- 
tion and length of voyage, 278; 
" esclavos," 279 : gives Spanish 
name to coast, 279 ; fisheries re- 
ceive new impulse, 280: men- 
tioned, 37, 49, 52, 55, 224, 248, 295, 
302-306, 310, 312, 314-317, 319, 320, 
:i58, 366, 374, 399, 404, 412, 419. 
Gosnold, 393, 413, 425, 474. 
Gourgues, expedition to Florida, 
462-4(i7 ; efforts of Huguenots to 
re-establish colony, 462; Gour- 
gues a nobleman, patriot, etc., 



524 



INDEX. 



462; receives commission and 
sails, 4()3; route, 464; lands, 464; 
treats with Indians, 465 ; suprises 
Spanish forts, 465; revenge, 465, 
4()(); icturns to France, 466; re- 
ception at Eochelle, 466; subse- 
quent history, 466, 467 ; death, 467. 

Grand iMenan, ;]81, 382. 

Grand lliver (Penobscot Bay), 416. 

Grapes and vines discovered by 
Leif s men, 65, 493. 

Gravesend Bay, 258. 

Great Britain, 58. 

Greene, G. W., referred to, 269, note. 

Greenland, .58; discovery of, 60; 
named, 62; position of in Icelan- 
dic geography, 85, 86 ; settlements 
disappear, 85 ; Peterpence col- 
lected in, 94; on chart of Zeni, 
97, 102-105; on chart of North- 
men, 107, 108, 110; pirates, 114; 
probaljly seen by (Jortereal, 16S, 
175; on Portuguese chart, 175: 
on Peinel's chart, 178; called 
Labrador, 181 ; on map of New 
France, 229; highway to New- 
foundland, 2:36; mentioned, 64, 
70, 77, 88, 92, 95, 113, 115-117, 301, 
3.56, 364, 378, 387, 392, 393. 

Greeidand, Gulf of (Sinus Gruen- 
lanticus), 158; Greenlandt, on 
Ruysch's chart, 157. 

Grenville, 413. 

Grijalva, 244. 

Gronlandia Antiqua, 107 ; Groen- 
landia, 108 ; on chart of Zeni, 102. 

Grotlandia, 297. 

(iuadelupe, 362. 

Gualdape, 397, 401. 

Guanahani, 251. 

Gudrida, 70, 71, 74, 77, 79, 82. 

Guinea, coast of, 115. 

Gulfs, four great, 33, 34. 

Gulf of Florida, 458. 

Gulf of Georgia, 352. 

Gulf of Maine, 35 ; name proposed 
and used in Edinburgh Encyclo- 
pedia, 3(); 37, 51; crossed by 
Biarne, 63 ; by Leif, 04; by Thor- 
hall, 74; on chart of Northmen, 
108; indicated, 109; Cabot enters, 
140, 141 ; on Cosa's chart, 154; 
often included under name of 
Tierra de los Bretones, 196 ; de- 
scription of coast, by Verrazano, 
263-265; Verrazano's first land- 
ing-place in, 265 ; mentioned, 76, 
281, 305, 306, 311, 312, 314-316, 318, 



319, 352, 353, 366, 383, 384, 391, 
474. 
Gulf of Mexico, 32, ISO, 243, 244, 
294, 402, 403, 408, 410, 414, 426, 
441 444. 

Gulf of New York, 34, 39, 318, 319, 

391, 393. 
Gulf of St. Lawrence, 34, 48, 140, 

179, 302, 313, 315, 320, 326, 330, 348, 

349, 350, 352, 353, 356, 365, 373-375, 

379. 
Gulf of Santo Lunai'io, 320. 
Gulf-stream, 42, 72, 319, 404, 412, 

444, 460, 475. 
Gunbiorn, 387; Gunnbjorn driven 

to Greenland, 61 ; Gunnbjorn's 

Skjar, 61. 
Gunningagap, 132. 
(Jiissellektt, 300. 

Gut of Canso, 230, 303, 313,349,3.58. 
Gwardus ensula (Vardoehuus), 99. 

Hakluyt, referred to, 130, note, 206, 
207, 224, 259, 263, 346, 352; in- 
formation concerning Hawkins' 
voyage, 442, note, 445. 

Hakluyt, MS., 131, note, 291, note; 
map, 392, note, 482. 

Haliburton's Nova Scotia, 381, 382, 
note. 

Halifax, 239. 

lianas, 102. 

Ilanetiord, 102. See Anaford. 

Ilanseatic towns. 111 ; traders, etc., 
479. 

Harbors, account of, 53. 

Haup. 91. See Hop. 

Havana. 404, 409, 411, 444, 458, 460. 

Hawkbridge, 220. 

Hawkins, 319, 413; voyage along 
coast of North America, 440-447 ; 
English discoverer of West In- 
dies, 440; early voyages, 441; sec- 
ond most important, 442 ; slave- 
trader,442 ; French pilots and sea- 
men, 442, 443; and proceedings, 
443; English voyage of discove- 
ry, 444 ; approaches Florida, 444 ; 
assists Laudonnicre and colony, 
445 ; information gained, 445; 
sails toward north-east, 446; at 
Banks of Newfoundland, 447 ; ar- 
rival in England, 447 ; pioneer of 
English navigators to Virginia, 
475, 481. 

Hayti, 277, .396. 

Hazard, Historical Collections, 127, 
note. 



INDEX. 



i25 



TTcadlands. 47. 

II.'l^i", 77,7.s. 

Jlclliiliiiul (NowroiimllaiKl), iiaiiio 
{liven, ()4; position in Icelandic 
flootrrapliv.S."), SO; niunlioned, 71, 
SS, IOC), 1()S, 10!). 

Ilcniy VII, 121, 124, 125, 129,135, 
145; issued patents, 120, l.'JO, 184; 
entries in acct. of jnivy purse 
expenses, l:i5 note, 180. 

Henry VUI, 281, 288, 290, ;3;JU; fa- 
vors Master Ilore, 338. 

neri)ert, Lord, 20(). 

Ileriulf, 02. 

IIerinlfniis,(;2, 108. 

Ihurera, referred to, 105, 177, 183, 
191, 197, 207, 209, 213, 245, 247, 250, 
270, 280, 285, 287, 299, 303, 39(5, 398, 
40(1, 410, 420. 

Iletland, 107. 

Ilialtland or Ilitland, 100. 

lli<4lilands of Neversink, 257. 

Ilifihroad, oceauic, 298 ; national 
Freneli, 424. 

Highways on map of Agnoso, 294, 
295, 29(5. 

ITills seen l)y Vcrrazano, 250. 

llispana, 290; llisimia, 3(i3. 

Ilispaniola (St. Domingo), 144, 290. 

Hoalfjardareyri, 117. 

Hochelaga, Indian village, river, 
etc., 333-335, 343, 340, 354. See 
Ocliclaga. 

irojeda, 193. 

Hollensis, on m<ap of Iceland, etc., 
175; Kpiscoi)us llolensis, 102, 175. 

Ilolurn, or Ilolar, 102. 

Ilomeni, Diego, 298, 299, 377, 388- 
391. 

Hondo, Rio, .37. 

Hondius, 317, 318, .392. 

Honlieur, .lean Dc-nys de, map of 
Newfoundland, 1.58. 

Honguedo, 3.!i. 

Hop, 72, 75, 70, 91. 

Hore, Master, voyage of, 337-.340; 
previous jn'oject of tlie Cabots, 
337; favored by Henry VHI. and 
others, 3;iH ; sails and reache.s 
Newfoundland, 338; great sufier- 
jngs, 339; cruel policy, 339; re- 
turns, 339. 

Hudson's Bay, 33, 388, 389. 

Hudson, Sir Henry, 219, 393, 413. 

Hudson liiver, 258, 292, 3(J(), 310,314, 
335. 

Hudson's Strait, 114, 178,302,350, 
305, 388, 389. 



Huguenots, 415, 422.432, 457, 402. 
Ilunih.^ldt, referred to, .59, 1 Iti, 118, 

129, 133. 134,130, 13S, 151, 154,159, 

102,300, .304. 
Until, Henry, coUectiona of, 293, 

315, 310. 
Hull, 112. 

Icaria, 104-100. 3s7. 

Icclaiul, Island, Islant, Islauda, 58; 
discovery of, 00-02; ScMiidinavian 
settlements in, 01 ; d(!i)endeney of 
Norway and Denmark, 85; Ico- 
la,ndi(5 geogra|)lier.s, 85; descrip- 
tion of the globe, SS; trade to, in 
tifteentli century, 94; Scandina- 
vian draltsmau from, 107 ; on 
chart of Northmen, 108; in t'otir- 
teentli century. 111; stoek-lish, 
112; Kuglish I'nake war in, 113; 
('olund)us in Iceland, 117, 118; 
numtioned, 148, 1.57, 174, 181, 230, 
301. ;!(i3, 374, 387. 

llha de frcy Luis, contracted to C. 
Freels, 175, 179. 

Indentations on coast of Maine, 47; 
otluu- coasts, 48. 

India, name applied to American 
disitoveries, 149 ; Went Indies, 
1.50; Indians, 1.50; ])assage to, 
147; on niapof Behaim, 149; pas- 
sago to, by western route, 271. 

Indians of Maine, 55, 91; of New 
England, 90, 91 ; Scandinavian 
names among, 91 ; cai)ture by 
(Jabot, 142; presented to Henry 
VII, 185 ; seen by Cartier, 324, 
327,330; words given by Thevet, 
417,418. 

Indian iUver Inlet, fort near, 4.59. 

Indies, 125; passage sought to, by 
Cabot, 139. 

Indies, West, 1.50, 231, 2.30, 208, 277, 
30.3, 404, 415, 422, 440, 4()0. 

Ingolf, lirst t(j settle in Iceland, (il. 

Inlets, description of, 53. 

Inscrijitions on map attributed to 
(Jabot, 308, :!09. 

Insula de Flores, 148. 

Ireland, Irlant, 148, 174. 

Irish, first in Icelaml, (H). 

Isabeau, the ship of Laudonniere, 
437, 447, 448. 

Isabella (Cuba), 101. 

Isla, or llha de Fortuna (Resolu- 
tion Island), 178, ,379, 388. 

Island of Arerlonda, 348, 380. 

Island, Brandan, 292. 



526 



INDEX. 



Island of Cajie Breton, 184. 

Island named for brother *Lonis, 
175. 

Islands, Cape Verde, 464. 

Islands in Casco Bay, 51, note: 52, 
805. 

I. de Juaninos, ;]()o. 

Island of Juan Estevanez, 348. 

Islands on coast of Maine, 52. 

I. S. Miguel, 3!)o. 

Islands, new, 29C>. 

Islands on map of New France, 229. 

Island of Ehodos. 2f')0. 

Island of Sancta Cruz (possibly 
Sable Island), 179. 

Island of St. John (Cape Breton), 
318, 371; (Prince Edward Isl- 
and). 375. 

Islands between westei-n Europe 
and eastern Asia, 147-150 ; f;ibu- 
lous stories concerning, 149. 

Islanda (Iceland), on chart of Zeni, 
101. 

Islas desiertas, 251. 

Isle Alezay, 32(5. 

Isle de I'Assomption, 331. 

Isle de Bacchus, 382. 

Isle de Brion. 326. 

Isle aux Coudres, 332, 356. 

Isle an Margaulx, 325. 

Isle d'Orleans, 882. 356. 

Isle de St. Catherine, 324. 

Isola de demoni, 229; Y dus do- 
monios, 3S8. 

Isthmus (of New England,) be- 
tween Atlantic and Pacific, 295- 
299. 

Italian navigators to northern coun- 
tries, 94,490. 

Itland, 100. 

Jamaica, 444. 

James, a navigator, 220. 

Japan, St. Domingo thought to be, 
124; Hispaniola supposed to be, 
165; mentioned, 160, 163, 239. 

Java major, 163. 

Jesuits, first brought to North 
America. 468 : entry into city of 
Mexico, 468 ; into California. 468. 

Jesus of Lubec, the, ship of Haw- 
kins, 442. 

Joanna of Castile, 198. 

Jocher, Gelehrten - Lexicon, 416, 
note. 

John II. of Portugal, 147. 

Jomard, M., fac-similes of maps, 
152,351,853,859,386. 



Jones, J. W., referred to, 255, 261 , 

notes. . 

Jordan, Capt., 246. 
Jutland, peninsula of, 99. 

Kathay, 123-128. See Cathay. 

Karlsefne, 70-81 ; 82, 91. 

Kennebec River, 54, 55, 304. 817. 

Khan, 186, 285, 876. 

Kialarnes (C. ship-nose), 49, 67, 60, 
71,74,75. 108, 109, 155. 

Kochhaf, Natlianiel (Chytraeus), 
368. 371. 

Kohl, new light from Portuguese 
archives on the Cortereal voy- 
ages, 170; 304, 307, notes. 

Kolno, John of, 114. 

Krossanass, 69. 

Kuntsman, referred to, 156, 168, 176, 
179, ISO, 188, 190, 280, notes. 

Labrador, Cabot's land-fall, 133- 
185; attached to Asia, 158; on 
Schoner's map, 162 ; on Portu- 
guese chart, No. 8, 175; on Rei- 
nel's chart, 178; on Portuguese 
chart. No. 10, 179, 181 ; on map of 
New France, 227; name given to 
Greenland. 181, 878; mentioned, 
32, 58, 105, 118, 114, 182, 185, 187- 
139, 145, 170, 200, 274, 294, 297, 
301, 824, 328-880, 356, 364, 365, 374, 
375, 879, 887, 388, 893, 419. 

Lac d' Angouleme (St. Peter's 
Lake), 888". 

Lachine, rapides de, 343. 

La Francese, 231. 

Le Have, highlands of, 40, 303. 

Lago de Golesnie, 35(>. 

Laguna de Xii'axngoe, 363. 

Lake Champlain, 884. 

Lake Huron, 890. 

Lake Ontai'io, 890. 

Lake Superior, 390. 

Lake, Great North American. .380. 

Larcadia, L'Arcadie, L'Accadie, 
etc., 234. 

La Roche, French discoverer, 74, 
note. 

Laudonniere, French expedition 
under, 434-440; plan to relieve 
colony at Port Royal, 484 ; intent 
to establish colony, 485; route, 
436; land-fall, 436; builds fort, 
487; explores St. John's River, 
Florida, and Georgia, 438; In- 
dians, 438; fountain of silver and 
gold, 438; dissatisfaction and 



INDEX. 



527 



mutiny, 438; decision to return 
to France, 440; arrival of Haw- 
kins, 440; news of Laudonnicre's 
proceedintjs carried to France, 
447 ; unl'avorable reports spread, 
448; expedition sent to his re- 
lief, 448, 450; escape from mas- 
sacre by Spaniards. 4."j:5 ; few of 
company return, 4.">4; lie readies 
England, 454; mentioned, 41;>, 
42:5, 429, 431, 432, 471, 473, 475. 

Lebersee, 380. 

Leif, Erik's son, voyage and set- 
tlement in New England, ()3-(i(); 
settlement probably in Rhode 
Island, 65; observations on cli- 
mate, etc., 60; Vinland voyage,(JO. 

Leifsbudir (Narraganset Bay), 05, 
07, 09, 72. 

Lelewel, referred to, 99, 104, 115, 
159, 38S. [334. 

L'Flmerillon, ship of Cartier, 333, 

Le Moyne, Jac<iues,435; repoits of 
exploring expedition under Lau- 
donnicre, 435, 4;38 ; escapes from 
massacre, and arrives in England, 
453, 454; pid)lishes accounts of 
events, 455; mentioned, 475, 47(5. 

Lery, French navigator, 203. 

Lescarbot, referred to, 342, 383. 

Levrier, La, ship of Ribault, 448, 
453, 454. 

Ley. English ambassador in Spain, 
281, 3()1. 

Linne, now Kingslynne, 112. 

Loaysa, 299. 

Lok, or Locke, Master Michael, 
map, 290, 295, 297, 371. 

London, 112. 

Long Island and Sound, 311. 

Long Island, on Homem's chart, 
381; (Islesboro'),417. 

Los Martyres (Florida Keyes),242. 

Louisa Island (probably Martha's 
Vineyard). 2()0, 201. 

Louisa of Savoy, -259. 

Lucayan Archipelago, 243, 245, 430. 

Lucayos (Bahumas), 424, 449. 

Luffoden Islands, 99. 

Madden, Sir F., .355. 

Madeira, 115, 174, 424. 

Madoc, tradition of, 59, 114,478. 

Magellan, Straits of, 48, 271, 273, 

293, 294, 299. 
Magliabecchian MS., referred to, 

2.50, note, 203. 
Magnetic needle, variation, 47; 



needle and pole, notions of, by 
early navigators, 157. 

Magniisen, referred to, 94, 111-113, 
notes. 

Maidas, island of, 301. 

Maine, cHmate, temperature, winds, 
44,45: fogs, 4(): ]teculiar feature 
of coast. 47; i)osition of, 58; lirst 
Europeans on coast of, 71, 79; 
may liave formed i)art of MarK- 
land, 84; P^encli influence on 
discovery and settlement of, 205; 
early discovery, 230, 237; men- 
tioned, 109, 120, 140, 172, 335, 336, 
354, 392, 393, 407. 

:Maine, coast of, .52, .53, 84, 113, 140; 
on Portuguese chart, 177; on 
map of New France, 227, 231; 
possibly visited by Europeans 
before Verrazano, 20('): beauties 
of, 2(i7; English actually land, 
288; Verrazano killed, 289; on 
chart of Lok. 291 ; on ^lercator's 
map, 391 ; first European settle- 
ment on coast of, 419, 420; influ- 
ence of various expeditions up- 
on discovery and settlement of, 
474 ; mentioned, 172, 304, 367, 388, 
405. 

Maine, Ckilf of, 35; size and con- 
figuration of, 30; soundings, 38; 
tides, 43. 

ISIajor, 11. IL, referred to, 378. 

Maldonado, 408-410, 412; careful 
exploration of coast of United 
States, 411. 

Malone Bay, 230. 

Malte-Bruii, 110, 110, 388. 

Mangi, on map of Beiiaim, 149; 
name of Chinese jirovince, 150. 

Maps of Columbus lost, 150; fij-st 
engraved, of new world, 1.56; 
made by mariners of Honfleur 
and Dieppe, 202. 

Map (.sec charts), No. 4, of ocean 
and islands between western 
pAiropc and eastern Asia, from 
Behaiin, 147-150. 

Map, No. 5, of east coast of North 
America, 151-155. 

Map, No. (), of new world, by 
Kuysch, 156-158. 

Map, No. 7, of North America, from 
globe of Schoner, 158-103. 

Map, No. 11, of New France, by 
Gastaldi, 226-233. 

Map, No. 12, of Terra Nueva, by 
Kuscelli, 233-235. 



528 



INDEX. 



Map, No. l;j, of North America, by 
Michael Lok, 290-292. 1 292-295. 

Map, No. 14, of America, by Agnese, 

Maps. No. 15, of North America, a, 
b, c, d, 290-299. 

Map, No. 17, sketches, 1, 2, .3, 4, 5, 
(*), 7, of coast of United States by 
dift'erent authors, ;]15-318. 

Map, No. 20, of world, attributed 
to Cabot, 358-369. 

Mar Baxa, 308. 

Mar descubierto por Yngleses, 154. 

Mare congelatum, 176. 

Mare de Verrazana, 292. 

Margaret's Bay, 230. 

Marklaud (Nova Scotia), named, 
()4; two boys of, 77; position of, 
in Icelandic geography, 85, 86; 
mentioned, 66, 71, 83, 84, 88, 106, 
108, 109, 117. 

Marquez, 400, 468, 469. 

Martha's Vineyard, 2.59-261. 

Martyr, Peter, referred to, 133, 142, 
143, 197, 209, 212, 217, 218, 277-279, 
370. 

Mary of Guilford. Englisli sliip, 
281-285,287,288. 

Massachusetts, 109 ; bay, 35, 312. 

Matanzas Inlet, 453. 

Matienco, 246 ; Matienzo, 395. 

Matthew, the, ship of the Cabots, 
128, l;-]5. 

Mav Eiver, 425, 426, 436. 

Medanos. 304, 313, 353. 

Medina, Pedro de, 361. 

Menendez de Aviles, 450, 452 ; ex- 
peditions of, on coast of Fk>ri- 
da, 455-461 ; service in Spanish 
America, 456; commission to sur- 
vey coast of Florida, 456 ; " Per- 
petual Adelantado of Florida," 
457 ; change in character of ex- 
pedition, 4-57; s.ails, 458; attacks 
and destroys French settlement, 
458; executes otlier objects of 
expedition, 459, 460 ; difticulties, 
461: honors and rewards from 
Philip II, 461 ; governor of Cuba, 
461 ; returns to Spain and again 
to America, 461; disorders, 461, 
467; rebuilds forts and restores 
colony. 467 ; sends out Jesuit 
missionaries, 467, 4(58; survey of 
coast, 468 ; far-reacliing plans, 
470; recalled to Europe, 470; fa- 
vorite of Philip II, 470; invested 
with command of armada, and 
death, 471 ; prominence among 



navigators and exi^lorers, 471 ; 
character, 473. 

Menendez and Marquez, enter- 
prises of, shrouded in obscurity 
by Spanish policy, 472. 

Menendez in, 401. 

Mercator, 106; atlas of, 317, 318, 
381 ; birth and childhood of, 384; 
first maps, 385; map of world, 
385 ; projection, 385 ; eminent, 
386 ; character of work, 386. 

Mer d'Espaigne, de France, Oceane, 
354. 

Meta incognita, 291. 

Metway harbor, 303. 

Mexico, 105, 294, 296, 363, 402, 408, 
459. 

Micmac Indians, captured by Cor- 
tereal, 90, 170. 

Miller, referred to, 142. 

Mines' Basin, ?S2. 

Mingan islands, 328. 

Minion, ship of Master Hore, 338. 

Miramichi Bay, 326. 

Miruelo, 243, 246, 396. 

Mississii)i)i Paver, 294, 368, 414,408. 

Mocosa, 392. 

Moluccas. 274, 278, 293-295. 

Monaco (the monk), 100. 

Montaignes, 353. 

Montagna verde, 306, 353. 

Montagues de Palassi, 438. 

Montauk Point, 311, 314. 

]Monte de trigo, 230. 

Montreal, 334. 

Mnsur, or Mausur (wood), 78,494. , 

Mount Pesert Island, 52. 

Mount lloyal, 333. 

Munich, archives of Bavarian army 
at, 174. 

Miinster, 296. 

Naddod, a Scandinavian, in Ice- 
land, 61,114. 

Naesset, 68, 91. 

Nantucket Island, 49; Shoals, 40, 
43, 49, 353. 

Narraganset Bay, 65, 261, 265, 311, 
314, 430. [403. 

Narvaez, expedition of, 363, 402, 

Natiscotic (Anticosti), 331. 

Nauset, 72, 74, 91. 

Navarro, 285-287. 

Navarrete, referred to, 193. 280, 301. 

Navigation from Great Britain to 
Iceland, 112. 

Navigators, Spanish, Portuguese, 
French, English, 92. 



INDEX. 



529 



New Brunswick, 327. 

New En<jlaiid, 34; first discovered, 
(52, 03 ; first settlement, ()3-fi(5; 
soutliern part named Yinland, 
<50; considered ])art of Europe, 
85-88 ; inhabited by Skrellings 
(Esquimaux), 8!); English vessel 
driven to coast, 119; mentioned, 
105, 10(5, 144, 140, 173, 294-297,305- 
307, 335, 300, 383, 384, 390, 391, 413, 
431, 470. 

New England, Gulf of, 35, 30. 

New found island, 180. 

Newfoundland, 32, 34,58; seen by 
Biarne, 03, 04 ; Icaria, 105 ; pen- 
insula on Cosa's map, 152; on 
Kuysch's chart, 158; on Schoner's 
map, 102 ; visited by Cortereal, 
108 ; second voyage, 109 ; east 
coast explored by, 170; thinks it 
mainland, 177; on Keinel's chart, 
178 ; names on maps of, 179 ; 
south coast on Reinel's chart, 
179; on Portuguese chart, 181; 
Portuguese fishing company, 188 ; 
Portuguese expeditions to, 190; 
intention of making Spanish set- 
tlement in, 195; belonging to 
Portugal, 198 ; on map of New 
France, 227, 230; early discove- 
ries, 230 ; circumnavigated by Car- 
tier, 337 ; voyage of Master Ilore 
to, 337-340; mentioned, 100, 132, 
135, 139, 140, 144, 145, 153, 207, 274, 
275, 279, 281, 2S.!, l';)7, ^Ol, 305, 307, 
313, 315, 320, 348-350, 350, 305, 300, 
371 , 373, 374, 379, 389, 393, 419, 430, 
431. 

Newfoundland Banks, 39, 187, 238, 
280, 281, 301, 354, 404, 412, 447, 470, 
470. 

New Fiance, 342, 340, 379, 380, 428. 

New Hampshire, 109. 

New Islands, the, 159, 160. 

New Jersey, 383. 

New land, a, supposed to be New- 
foundland, 83. 

Newport, Leifs settlement near, 
05; harbor, 201, 202, 428. 

New Piiver Inlet, 254. 

New Spain, 380. 

New York, bay, and harbor, 141- 
144, 25(5-258, 203, 277, 294, 391, 413, 
428,430,431,475. 

New York, Gulf of, 39, 141. 

Niya, Marco de, 420. 

Nicolas of Linne, 112. 

Noder, like Norden, 102. 



Nordero, colfo, 100. 

Norobagra, 353. 

Normandy, 190, 200, 279. 

Northmen, 45; accounts of, 5(5-91, 
89 ; emigration, 00; traffic with 
Skrellings, 73 ; reports of voy- 
ages, 70; expedition to Vinland 
after Thorfinn Karlsefne, 82-85; 
heroic age passed by, 84; geog- 
raphers in Iceland, 80 ; reminis- 
cences of, 88 ; attractions of New 
England to, 92 ; influence of their 
attempt, 93 ; Fricsland Islands in 
possession of, 94 ; resume of their 
knowledge, 105; charts of, 107- 
110; common features, 107; men- 
tioned, 49, 53, 83, 90-94, 102, 103, 
IIC), 202, 305. 

North-west passage, 283, 290, 369, 
379, 395, 403, 412, 477. 

Northumberland, Duke of, 200. 

Norumbega, Norumbegue, Terra 
de Norumbega, 205, 230; difter- 
ent restrictions of name, 231, 283 ; 
various forms of word, 235 ; men- 
tioned, 279, 284, 288, 291, 317, 318, 
391, 392, 410, 419, 480. 

Norumbega, city of, 353 ; great 
river of, 304, 420, 489; gulf or sea 
of, 35. 

Norvegia (Norway), 99, 100, 297. 

Norway, 77, 99 ; Norwegia, 80. 

Nouveile France, La, Nova, La, 346, 
350, 389. 

Novaja Zemlia, 80. 

Nova Scotia, 34, 51 ; seen by Biarne, 
63 ; included with Maine, 84; 
Estotiland, 105; seen by Cabot, 
140, 141 ; on Ruysch's chart, 158 ; 
on Keinefs chart, 179 ; on Portu- 
guese chart, 180, 181 ; on map of 
New France, 227, 230; mention- 
ed, 173, 207, 281, 297, 302-304, 307, 
317, 348, 353, 358, 366, 373, 380, 381, 
390, 419. 

Novus Atlas, sketch from, 317. 

Nueva IIisi);uua, 297. 

Nouveile France, 430, 489. 

Nuova Francia, La, 231. 

Nuremburg, M. Behaim, born in, 
147. 

Nurumberg, Tierra de, 234. 

Ocampo, Sebastian de, 240. 

Ocean, Atlantic, 33, 177, 295, 296, 
297, 354, 426; isthmus between, 
and Pacific, 295 ; passage sought 
between and Pacific, 400. 



580 



INDEX. 



Ocean, Eastern, 160, 268. 

Ocean, Northern, 297. 

Ocean, Pacific, m, 124, 160, 203, 295. 

296, 298, 426, 477. 
Ocean, Western, 140, 295, 474. 
Ocean, between western Europe 

and eastern Asia, 147-150. 
Ochelaga, 420, :J56. See Hochelaga. 
Oesteroe, 101. 
Ohio River, 408. 
Olafsen, relerred to, 94. 
Olensis, 102. 
" Onefoots," 75, 76, 80. 
Onslow Bay, 254. 
Ophir, 296. 
Ortelius, referred to, 106, 134, 292, 

360, 361, 375, 381, 386, 389, 390, 392. 
Osraora Bay, 391. 
Ottawa River, 335, 390. 
Ottigny, M. de, 453. 
Ovando, 469. 
Oviedo, description of coast, 307- 

316 ; referred to, 207, 226, 247, 274- 

279, 285, 287, 299, 307, 312, 313, 315, 

361, 367, 383, 396, 398, 405. 
Owen, referred to, 60. 
Owl's Head promontory, 304, 312, 

316, 384. 

Pamlico Sound, 309, .399. 

Panama, Isthmus of, 160, 293. 

Panuco, 402. 

Papagalli terra, 160. 

Papas, or papar, in Iceland, 60, 01, 

111. 
Pardo, expedition under, 460. 
Paria, 161. 
Pariana, 296. 

Parkman, referred to, 234. 
Parmentier, 228, 232. 
Parry, 220. 
Parte incognite, 230. 
Pascua Florida, 241. 
Pasqualigo, referred to, 169, 171, 

note ; letter of, 130, note ; 133, 135, 

136, 177, 375. 
Passamaquody Bay, 53, 56, 234, 235, 

note. 
Pedee River, 309. 
Pemaquid, 91. 
Penguin Island, 339. 
Peninsulas, 33, 34, 47. 
Penobscot Bay, .53, 54, 234, 291,304, 

312, 316, 353, 358, 367, 391, 416, 

419, 420. 
Penobscot Indians, 55. 
Penobscot River, 54, 55, 56, 312, 316, 

358,391,392,489. 



Pequots, 90. 

Peramich, Indian king, 418. 

Pergen (Bergen), 99. 

Perle, La, ship of Ribault, 448, 4.53. 
454. 

Perm (Biarmaland), 107. 

Pert, Englisli navigator with Cabot. 
20(), 207, 208, 219, 220. 

Peru, 294, 4.59. 

Peschel, referred to, 175, 178, 188, 
193, 240, 297, notes. 

Peterpence collected in Greenland, 
94. 

Phillips, Sir Thomas, map in pos- 
session of, 355, 356. 

Physical features of coast and 
Gulf of Maine 3I-.56. 

Pieria, commander of Charlesfort. 
428, 432. 

Pineda, 402, 403, 408. 

Pirates on coast of Greenland, 114. 

Piscataqua River, 55. 

Pizarro, discoveries of, 293. 

Placentia Bay, 349. 

Plisacus Sinus, 157. 

Point S. Andre, 349. 

Point S. Maria, 349. 

Polo, Marco, notions and reports 
of, 149; inscriptions and legends 
taken from, 150; quoted, 1.56. 

Ponce de Leon, expedition of, 240- 
243 ; sails in search of fountain 
of youth, 240; reaches Guana- 
hani, discovers and names La 
Florida, 241 ; governor of Florida 
and Bimini, 242; dies in Cuba, 
243 ; mentioned, 161, 162, 180, 274, 
303, 308, 402, 444. 

Poi^ham celebration, memorial vol- 
ume, 187. 

Popham, English captain, 405. 

Port of the Holy Cross, 332, 334, 
336, 342. 

Port de la Plata, 396. 

Port du Refuge, 230. 

Port Royal, on map of New France, 
230. 

Port Royal, fate of settlement at, 
432-434; sufferings, 432 ; captain 
killed, 432 ; sail lor France, 433 ; 
succor from an English bark, 
433 ; arrive in 'England, 434 ; men- 
tioned, 436, 467. 

Port Royal River, entrance, etc.. 
427. 

Portland Harbor, 53, 54. 

Porto Rico, 285, 286, 402. 

Portolano, or Portulano, 293, 298, 



INDEX, 



531 



348, 377, 420; name explained, 
493. 

Portuoral. 184, 273, 355. 

I*ortn<rnese. explorers, 164; decline 
Columbus' proposal for western 
voyage. 1(!4: Stiuyres, 185; lish- 
injT company formed, 188, 189 ; no 
journals, 190; may have appeared 
on our coast, 190 ; expeditions to 
Newfoundland continued, 190; 
kindness to (Jilbert, 191; settle- 
ment on Sable Island, 191 ; active 
on Banks of Newfoundland, 192 ; 
their discoveries 0ven on charts, 
192 ; high road to East Indies, 294, 
482, 483. 

Poutrinoourt, .383. 

Prato, Albert de, 284. 

Prima Vista, 323, 300 ; Prima tierra 
vista, 373, 374, 375. 

Primum Visam, 371, 374. 

Prince Edward's Island, 326, 356, 
366. 375. 

Prinff, 393, 413. 

Promontorium Vinlandife, 108, 109. 

Protestant colony in new world, 
415, 421 ; asylum for French, 431. 

Ptolemy's geography, 1.56; the 
Ptolemy, 296, 297, 361. 

Punta de'la Florida, 308. 

Purchas, referred to, 282, 283, 284, 
notes. 

Quaden, 392. 

Quebec, .334, .343, .356, 357. 

Queen Elizabeth, commission to 
Gilbert and Kaleigh, 474 ; report 
of Frencli colonists to, 475. 

Quinsay, city ot'r2i)o. 

Quiviri (California), 291. 

Quoddy Head, 36. 

Rafn, referred to, 57, 60, 68, 76, 78, 

79, 81, 88, 89, 91, 108, 117. 
Raleigh Bay, 255. > 

Raleigh, Sir W., 405, 413, 421, 455, 

476. 
Ramusio, referred to, 1.37,203,207, 

218, 221. 2i'r,. ■J49. 263, 269, 270, 298, 

335, 346, 377, 3S0, 403, 430, 492. 
Recapitulation, conclusion, and, 

477-497. 
Reif Cape, 49, 311,314. 
Regiomontanus, 147. 
Reinel, chart of Nova Scotia, etc., 

177-179; mentioned, 275, 299, .301. 
Result of examination of maps for 

early history of Maine, 182. 



Rhode Island, 72. 

Rhodes, island of, 260. 

Ribault, .Jacques, 453, 4.54. 

Ribault, .Jean, first exploring expe- 
dition of, 421-431 ; outfit, instruc- 
tions, etc., 422, 423; new route, 
423, 424; arrives on coast, 425; 
Eldorado, 426; establishes fort 
and colony, 427; sails north, 428; 
returns to France. 428. 429; col- 
ony overwhelmed by Spaniards, 
430; mistakes of JJibault, 430, 
431 ; solicitations for aid un- 
heeded, 432 ; commands third 
French expedition to Florida, 
447; sails, 449; meets Laudon- 
niere and companions, 4.50: Span- 
ish armament appears. 450; Ri- 
bault sails. 451 ; adopts oft'en- 
sive, 452 ; French fort surprised, 
453; Ribault shipwrecked and 
killed, 453 ; few of colony re- 
turn to France, 454 : commission 
included Gulf of Maine, 474 ; 
loses opportunities of establish- 
ing French settlement in Maine, 
475 ; mentioned, 413, 414, 446, 471, 
473. 

Ribera gram, 381. 

Ribera de .Jardins, 381. 

Ribera de S. Joam, 381. 

Ribero, first chart of Maine, 52; 
map by, 299-307 ; mentioned, 161, 
281, 307, 313-317, 319, 3.53, 361, 366, 
377, 383, 398. 399, 407, 419. 

R. de bonne mere, 353. 

Rio de la buelta, 303, 353 ; de Buena 
madre, buena madeira, 306, 311, 
314, 317, 358, 367 ; de Canada, 3.56 ; 
de Castanar, '313 ; las Canoas, 
309; Dabol, .367; Doloso, .3.58; 
Douche, 356; de Don Diego, 162; 
Duce, 3()5; del Espiritu Santo 
(James River). 310; del Espiritu 
Santo (Mississippi), 368,408; Fre- 
mosa, 350; Fundo (Bay of Fun- 
dy), 316; de las Gamas, 304, 312, 
313, 316, 358, 367. 391, 420 ; da Gen- 
te, 349; Grande, grant, 304, 3.58, 
.391 ; Grande, of Norumbega, .392, 
420 ; Hondo, Fondo, 37, 3i)0 ; Jan- 
eiro, Bay of, 415; Jordan, 247, 
309, 396, 397, 399. 427 ; de Monta- 
Kas, 303, 313; Nevado, 1()8; de 
Peros, 367; de St. Anthoine,.3.53; 
de San Antonio, 310, 311, 314, 319, 
.367; de Sta. Elena, 309; S. Pol, 
3.58 ; de S. Quenam, 365 ; Pria, 350 ; 



532 



INDEX. 



Primero, 358, 390; del Principe, 
309, 399; tie Quenbequin, 347; 
Real, 349; de Eosa, 175; Salado, 
310,460; Seco,308; S. Mio-nel de 
Gualdape, 397, 401 ; de Tormeuta, 
388 ; de Trafaliccar, 309 ; da Trav- 
e^a, 350 ; de la Volte, 353. 

Rivers, 54. 

River of Hoclielaga, 354 ; of the 
Holy Cross, 294; La Plata, 369; 
St. Lawrence, 56, — see St. Law- 
rence; of Sta. Maria, 420. See 
Rio. 

Riviere Cartier, 324 ; des Danpliins, 
437 ; Dolphins. 451 ; de May, 425, 
426, 436, 437, 450, 465 ; du Sague- 
nay, 365 ; Seine, 464. 

Roberval, expedition to Canada, 
340-347 ; head of expedition, 341 ; 
delay, 342; arrives at St. John, 
543 ; establishes himself at France 
Roy, 43; search for north-west 
passage, 344; retnrn, 344 ; por- 
trait on map, 354 ; nientioned,322, 
357, 365, 414, 427. 

Rochelle, 454. 

Roggeveen, 469. 

Rolf, 83. 

Rome, Greenland known at, 116. 

Roseway bank, 40. 

Ronte, new French to east coast of 
United States, 424, 436, 449, 474. 

Route. Spanish, to east coast of 
United States, 424, 436. 

Royal collections of King of Bava- 
ria, 177, 180. 

Ruscelli, 233, 234,297. 

Rut, object of his expedition, 283 ; 
return, 283 ; little knowledge 
concerning, 284' ; probabilities, 
286, 287, 288 ; result of examina- 
tion, 288; second English expe- 
dition on entire coast, 289 ; men- 
tioned, 320,481. 

Ruyscli, chart by, 156-158. 

Sable, Cape, 37. 
Sable Island, 179, 191, 204, 232. 
Sable Island Bank, "40. . 
Saco Bay, 267, 312, 367. 
Saco River, 54, 55. 
Sagadahoc, 55. 
Sagra, 151. 

Saguenay River and country, 331, 
332, 3:15, 356, 343, 354, 3()5, 380, 390. 
Samson, the Euglisli ship, 281-283, 
Saintonge, French captain, 344. 
San Antonio, 307, 317. 



Sand-bank on map of New Fi-ance, 

232. 

Sandy Hook, 257, 258, 306, 319, 353. 

San Felipe, fort, 459. 

San Mateo, 459, 464. 

San Pedro, 349. 

Santander, 471. 

Santee, 309. 

Satouriba, Indian chief, 464. 

Sault de S. Louis, ;W3. 

Savage Rock (C. N"eddoc), 405, note. 

Savannah River, 308, 407, 414. 

Saxe Weimar, Grand Duke of, 299, 
300. 

Scalodin (Skalholt), 102. 

Scandinavia, 58, 99; Scandinavian 
draftsman from Iceland, 107. 

Scandinavian, Chronicles, 60 ; A- 
merica, 87. 

Schmeller, referred to, 179. 

Schoner, globe of, 158 ; other globes 
similar to, 159 ; map, 160, 161 ; two 
great series of discoveries indi- 
cated on, 162. [99. 

Scocia (Scotland), on chart of Zeni, 

Scholnus, 114, 115, 119. 

Sea of Cortes, 403. 

Sea of Norumbega, 35. 

Sealiorse Point, 220. 

Septeracitade, Sept Cites, Island of 
the Seven Cities, 125, 135, 148, 292, 
426, 4S1. 

Sera Lion (Sierra Leone), 148. 

Seyler, Johann, 158. 

Sforza archives, 130, note. 

Shetland Islands, 58, 95, 100, 107. 

Ship-nose (Kialarnes), 49, 68, 69. 

Shoals, fishing, 39. 

Sigurdson, referred to, 117. 

Sigurdus, map drawn by, 107-109. 

Silver mines, 437. 

Sinbad, Arabian navigator, 149. 

Skager Rak, 99. 

Skalholdin, 387. 

Skalholt, Skalhott, 102, 108, 117. 

Skraekja (to cry), 90. 

Skrellings, 68, 73, 80, 89, 90, 91. 

Slave-trading voyages, 245; slave- 
hunting expeditions, 247 ; Gomez' 
cargo, 277 ; Hawkins' do., 442. 

Smith, 55, 393, 413, 463. 

Snorre, 74, 77, 79. 

Snorre Thorbrandsen, 70. 

Solomon, ship of Hawkins, 442. 

Sorand, 100. 

Soundings, 38. 

South Sea, 299^ 426, 437. 

Spagnola, Spaiiola, 156, 157. 



INDEX. 



533 



Spain, 115, 121, 129, 130, 148, 105, 166 
183, 184, 192-198, 210-215, 223, 241, 
242, 251, 271-273, 277, 281, 287, 327, 
394, 430, 456, 457, 459, 461, 466, 467, 
484 

Spanish Basques, 280, 301, 412. 

Spanish expeditions along coast of 
Florida, 236-248. 

Spanish expeditions of Ayllon to 
Cliicora, 245-248. 

Spanisli expeditions and fisheries, 
404, 412.485; shipwrecks, 405. 

Spanisli survey of east coast of 
Florida, 4(j7-474. 

Spanish claims to whole of North 
America, 476. 

Spanish sovereigns protest against 
English enterprises, 192. 

Sparkc, 442, 445; description of 
Florida, 446. 

Spice Islands, 395. 

Spitzbcrgen, 86. 

Sprengei, (Jerman geographer, 300. 

Square Gulf, 321. 

S. Andre, point, 349. 

St. xVugustine, San Augustino, 425, 
451,4.58,4.59. 

St. Brandan, 125, 148, 149, 386. 

S. Christofalo, 317. 

St. Croix Kiver, 54, 55, 56. 

St. Domingo, 243, 246, 286, 395, 401, 
436, 444. 

St. George's Channel, 454. 

St. German, 286. 

St. Gregor, 366. 

St. Helena Sound (Rio Jordan), 
309, 396, 397, 420, 459. 

S. Jago, 277. 

St. John, or S. Juan Island, 134. 

St. John, Newfoundland, 283. 

St. John's Eiver, 308, 330, 390, 459. 

S. Juan Baptista, 306. 

S. Juan de Porto Rico, 285. 

St. Lawrence River, 56; expeditious 
to, 322; application and exten- 
sion of name, 330 ; San Lorenzo, 
.330 ; mentioned, 227, 292, 294, 298, 
315, 316, 320, 327, 345, 352, 353, 
356, 360, 365, 375, 379, 388, 390, 
392, 409, 420, 460. 

St. Lawrence, gulf of, 162, 315, .320, 
3.56, 365, 375, 379; early French 
voyages to, 202, 350. 

St. Lawrence Port, 331. 

St. Laurens, 354. 

Sta. Lucia, fort, 4.59. 

S. Maria, Point, 349. 

Ste. Marie, Courant de, 343. 



St. Mary's Bay, 309, 349, .382, 399, 

400, 401, 460, 469. -See Bahia de 

Sta. Maria. 
St. Mary's River, 425, 436. 
St. Martin, Pilot Major, 212, 213. 
St. ^Maurice River, 390. 
S. Miguel de Guaklape, 397, 398, 

401. 
St. Paul (North Point), 337, 349; 

island, 350, 373. 
S. Paulo. 349. 

St. Peter's Channel, .330, .331. 
St. Peter's Island, 337. 
St. Peter's Lake, 3:«, 334. 
S. Sebastian, fishermen of, 280. 
Saint Scrvan, .'!24. 
Stadacona, Indian village, 332, 335, 

356. 
Stat (Cape Statlant), 99. 
Steamers, British, 45. 
Stockfish, 112. 
Stow's Chronicles, 206. 
Strachcy, 405, note. 
Strait of Bahama, 458. 
Strait of Belle Isle, 324-326, 329, 

330, 350, 3()5, 375, 379. 
Straumey, 72. 
Straumfiordr, 72, 74-76. 
Streme, Stromoc, 100. 
Sudero Coll'o, 100. 
Suderoe I., 10(J. 
Suecia (Sweden), 90. 
Sueno, 81. 

Swallow, ship of Hawkins, 442. 
Swansea, 4.54. 
Sweating sickness, 220. 
Sweet potatoes first mentioned, 

248, note. 
Sylva, Bp. of Viseu, 351, 355. 

Tartars, North American Indians 

thought to be, I.jO. 
Tarratines, 90. 
Tartaria, 149, 150. 
Tem is titan, city of, 40.3. 
Temperature, 44. 
Terceira, 188, 245. 
Terra Agricule (Greenland), 378; 

Terra Agricolte, 387. 
Terra, tierra, de Bacalaos, Bacalos, 

Bacalhas, Bacallaos, Baccalaos, 

Baccalhaos, Bocalhas, 165, 178, 

188, 189, 204, 234,294,297,298,301, 

302, 307, 35(), 389. 
Tera Bimini, 180. 
Terra, terre, tierra de, des, dus, 

Bretones, Bretons, 196, 204, 298, 

302, 303, 317, 353, 391. 



584 



INDEX. 



Terra Corterealis, terra de cortte 
Real, 162, 175, 189, 204, 388, 389. 

Terra de Cuba, on Schoner's map, 
Kil. 

Terra Florida, 109, 296, 297. 

Terra incognita, 368. 

Terra, tierra de Labrador, 229, 234, 
301, 302, 3)7, 364. 

Terra, tierra, Nova, Nueva, Nuova, 
158,196,231,233,321,356. 

Terre Fram^aise, La, 204, 205. 

Terre des Molues, La, 204. 

Terre Neuve, La, 204, 329. 

Testa, French pilot, 420. 

Thebet, 149. 

Thevet, 415 ; visits Norumbega, 416 ; 
Indian words, 417, 418 ; visits 
Penobscot, 419; credit to pilot, 
420. 

Thirkill, L., 186. 

Thomassy, referred to, 290, 291, 300, 
notes. 

Thorbrandsen, Snorre, 70. 

Thorfinn Karlsefne, settlement in 
Vinland, 70-81 ; marries Gudrida, 
70; sails from Greenland, 71; 
sails westward, and builds Thor- 
linn's budir, 72 ; goes in search of 
Tliorhall, 75; third winter in 
Vinland, 77 ; returns to Green- 
land, 77 ; sails for Norway, 78; 
returns to Iceland, 79 ; results of 
expedition, 79-81 ; mentioned, 82, 
91. 

Thorhall,70, 72, 74, 75, 79, 80. 

Thorlak, Bishop, 79. 

Thorleiison, 117. 

Thorne, reierred to, 186; letter to 
Henry VIII, 215, 216, 222; two 
letters of, 281-283, 361. 

Thorstein, Erik's son, 70. 

Thorwald, Erik's son, 66-69. 

Thorwald Helgason, 83. 

Thorwald, son-in-law of Erik the 
Red, 71. 

Tides in Gulf of Maine, 43; in Bay 
of Fundy, 43. 

Tierra de Ayllon, 307, 398, 399. 

Tierra de Gomez, 277, 279, 302, 307, 
399. 

Tierra de Nurumberg, 234. 

Tiger, the ship of Hawkins, 442. 

Tiger-like animal on map attribu- 
ted to Cabot, 3(»4, 368. 

Tiraboschi, referred to, 96, 229. 

Tordesillas, treaty of, 307. 

Torfaeus, 107, 108. 

Torlacius, Gudbrandus, 109, 110. 



Torlacius Theodoras, 107, 108, 109. 

Torlakson, 110. 

Tortugas, 242, 444. 

Toscanelli, 125, 140, 148, 150. 

Tradition of Madoc, 59; of people 
from west, 59 ; of Irish to west, 
(iU; of Irish in Iceland, 60. 

Trinite, La, ship of Ribault, 448. 

Trinitie, ship of Master Hore, 338. 

Trin, prom. (C. Farewell), 387. 

Tronde (Drontheim), 99. 

Tyrker, 65, 87, 493. 

Ultima Thule, 116-118. 

Ungava Bay, 230, 388, 389. 

United States, 52, 53, 142; called 
Nurumbega, 231 ; information 
from de Soto's reports regarding 
southern portion of, 409 ; first 
European settlement on coast 
of, 65; second do. of, 427; men- 
tioned, 39, 42, 43, 48, 49, 53, 92, 251, 
390, 395, 412, 420, 459. 

United States, east coast of, 351- 
354. 

United States, coast survey, 36, 42. 

Valdes, governor of Cuba and Flor- 
ida, 471. 

Vallard, author and owner of map. 
354, 355, 390. 

Vasco de Garaa, 164. 

Vasseur, Le, Michael and Thomas, 
436. 

Vega, referred to, 243, 410. 

Veiasco, Don Juan de, 469. 

Velasco, Portuguese or Spanish 
sailor, 202. 

Velasquez, governor of Cuba, 402. 

Venetians, intercourse with north 
of Europe, 93, 94 ; resident at 
Bristol, 122. 

Venice, center of geographical 
knowledge, 377. 

Vera Cruz, 244. 

Verrazano, 52, 84; Italian naviga- 
tor employed by the Fiencli,249; 
chart of, 228, 231 ; expeditions, 
248-270 ; sails from France, 250 ; 
in sight of coast of United States, 
251; land-fall, 2.52, 254; southern 
terminus of voyage, 253, 254 ; se- 
cond and third landing-places, 
255. 257, 258; hills, 256; sails east, 
2.58; island, 259, 260; sails along 
coast of New England, 263; de- 
scription of coast of Gulf of 
Maine, 263-265; coast of Maine, 



INDEX 



535 



267; returns to France, 267; ac- 
count invalual)le, 269; second 
expedition ]ir()l)al)le, 2()9, 270; ul- 
timate fate. 270, 2,s4, 280; charts, 
2'.)()-2!»i) ; Vcrrazano's plat, 290, 
291, 295 ; sea of, 297, :335, 474; 
mentioned, 319, .'520, 352, 422, 42;j, 
424, 427,428, 4 :]0. 

Verrazano Ilieronymus, 291, note. 

Vespucci, Amerigo, 129, 160; rea- 
son for his name being given to 
America, 496. 

Vespucci, Juan, 273. 

Vessel sails from Iceland to Mark- 
land, 8:5. 84. 

Vianna, 18S. 

VictoHa, the. Magellan's vessel, 271. 

Viegas, chart by, ."548-351. 

Villegagnon, 415, 416. 

Vines and grapes- discovered by 
Leif "s men, 65, 493. 

Vinland, named, (»6 ; climate, length 
of days, etc.. ('>i\; " the good," 77, 

79, 82, 92; known in Denmark, 

80, 81 ; expeditions to, 82-85 ; in- 
tercourse between Greenland, 
Iceland, and, 84; lost sight of, 
85; position in Icelandic geogra- 
phy, 85, S(); part of Europe, 87, 
88; on chart of Zeni, 106; on 
chart of Northmen, 108; men- 
tioned by Adam of Bremen, 11(5; 
mentioned, ()8, 70, 74, 117. 

Vinland's Haf, 108. 

Virginia, 405, 407, 413, 414, 434, 441, 
475. 

Vitalis, Odericus, 81. 

Vitet, referred to, 201-203. 

Vivaldi, the brothers, Vadino and 
Guido, 93. 

Vivaldi, Ugolino, 93. 

Voyage attributed to Sebastian 
Cabot, 35S-377 ; incorrect theory. 
371 ; remarks on probability of 
voyage, 372-376 ; prima tierra vis- 
ta, 373; search for north-west 
passage, 374 ; errors in statement, 
376 ; voyage doubtful, 377. 

Voyages between time of Colum- 
bus and 1520, 161. 

Voyage, English, under Cabot and 
Pert, 206. 

Voyages of France, 295. 

Voyages, French, after Cabot and 
Cortereal, 199-205. 

Voyage of Hawkins on coast of 
North America, 440-447. 

Voyage of Leif, Erik's son, 63, 66. 



I Voyages to Newfoundland, 192-199. 
Voyages of Spaniards from Havana 

to IJacallaos, 411. 
Voyages of Verrazaiio, 249-270. 
Voyages subsecjuent to those of 

Cabot and the Cortereals, 183- 

224. 

Walckenaer, treatise of, 149, note ; 

map found in library of, 151. 
Wawenoc Indians, 91. 
Weimar, collections of Grand Duke 

of, 299, 300. 
Western Europe and Eastern Asia, 

short distance between, 147. 
Western Islands, 116. 
Westrabord, ;587. 
Weymouth, 393, 413. 
White bears, 133. 
White Mountains, 265, 267, .304. 
Willoughby, 480. 
Winds, 44. 
Witsarc, 387. 
Wytfliet, referred to, 114, 279, note, 

392, 419, note. 

Ylhas de caravillo, .388. 

Ynglaterra, Cavo de, 153, 154. 

Yngleses, mar descubierto por, 154. 

Y. dos Bocalhas, 178. 

Y. dus demonios. 388. 

Ys. des Loups. 3.53. 

Ysla de S. Juan, 366. 

Y. de la tormenta (Island of 

Storms), 379. 
Ysla Verde, 301, 383. 
Yucatan, 180, 363. 

Zahotman, referred to, 96. 

Zartmann, referred to, 112. 

Zeni, the, voyages of, 92-97, 114, 
116; map of Greenhxnd, 102,387; 
sea chart of, 97-106; names on 
chart, 98, 100, 102, 104; informa- 
tion from Northmen, 102 ; map of 
Greenland copied, 103; different 
interpretations, 106 ; particular 
distinction of, 106; mentioned, 
9(i, 101, 103, 110, 122. 

Zeno, Antonio, 95, 98, 104, 105. 

Zeno, Carlo, 95. 

Zeno, Nicolo, 94, 95. 

Zeno, Nicolo, the younger, 96, 98, 
103. 

Zichmni, 95, 105, 114. 

Zipangu (.lapan), 156, 157, 160, 239, 
296. See Cipangu. 



E 907 



